Beyond Salvation
by Facetaker
Summary: Victoire always saw her veela blood as a curse, but when she gets dragged into a dark secret, things escalate and she suddenly finds herself with a death on her hands, she's sure of it. Hogwarts isn't safe, it's a battleground. Victoire unwillingly plays the game, all the time longing for the only boy who can never be hers, not knowing he has a secret of his own.
1. Cursed

_There's no salvation for me now, _

_No space among the clouds, _

_And I've seen that I'm heading down,_

_But that's alright,  
_

_**Lover To Lover **_**-****Florence + The Machine**

**Chapter 1: Cursed**

* * *

"Hey Vicky, do you know the answer to number five?" Britney Goldstein's voice rang out clearly across the Ravenclaw common room. Several heads turned in interest, Victoire Weasley looked up from her book unwillingly.

"No."

"Oh, well sorry to bother you then", Britney said apologetically, and Victoire gave the slightest of nods before returning to her book. It was one of her favourites, a muggle one called Pride and Prejudice. Every autumn since she was thirteen she'd read it, letting the mazy story of deception unfold inside her head. Unfortunately Britney didn't seem to be done with her yet.

"You know the test is tomorrow Vicky, I could help you study if you want to." Britney smiled sweetly across the two tables that separated them, the buzzing inside the common room had gone completely quiet. Victoire narrowed her eyes at the bouncy honey blonde girl with the sweet smile, she couldn't believe that no one else saw how fake it was.

"I'm fine, thanks", she said, almost managing to keep the venom out of her voice.

"Really, are you sure? I've been told I'm a great tutor." Britney's smile grew even wider if possible, Victoire wondered if her face would crack from the pressure. Unfortunately it didn't.

"It's true, she's been helping me a lot!" An enthusiastic voice cut it, and Victoire didn't have to glance to the side to know who it belonged too.

"Thanks Anthony", Britney chirped. Victoire saw Anthony Corner's face split into a charming smile from the praise. She couldn't blame him, everyone smiled when praised by Britney Goldstein.

"I'm fine", Victoire said forcefully "_Really_."

"Okay, just trying to help" Britney said with a sigh as Victoire returned to her book. Her eyes had barely focused on the first sentence before she heard the sniggering from Britney and her two girlfriends. She tried to shut it out, especially as everyone else went back to their previous discussions and the common room was once again embedded in a cosy murmur of voices. But one voice somehow pitched through them all, making it impossible for her to concentrate.

"-I mean, I was just trying to help her, god knows how she got into Ravenclaw, she has no brains! If she'd let me help then maybe she wouldn't be such an outsider-" Britney's voice was buried in the agreement from her two friends, Jennifer Chambers and Morgan Adams. Unfortunately those three gossiping girls were also Victoire's fellow sixth-year girl dormmates.

With a sigh she sunk lower down into the blue armchair. She'd gotten to the part were Elizabeth read Darcy's letter, one of her favourite parts. She'd thrown her bare legs up across the armchair, so that she was half-lying in it. Soon she'd forgotten about Britney and was once again lost in Elizabeth's troubles. But it didn't last for long.

"Ehrm, Victoire?" She recognized the tentative voice, the sort of voice all boys got when they were around her. She glanced around her book to find Anthony hovering above her.

"Yes?"

"I uhm, I could study with you if you want-" he cleared his throat nervously, glancing backwards. Victoire noticed with satisfaction that Britney was watching them irritably. "- I know Britney can be a bit…intense", he finished, eyes on the wall behind Victoire. She looked him up and down for once, he was actually quite good looking, quidditch-toned body, warm eyes and a well sculptured face framed by brown curls. He was chaser on their quidditch team, one of the best looking boys in their year, quite a catch.

Her mother would have approved.

"Tell me about it" she found herself answering with a laugh before she'd even made a decision. Her laughter brought a smile from Anthony, making him grow bolder.

"So, you want to?"

"Sure, why not?" Her eyes fluttered past him and caught Britney's, yep, Britney definitely didn't like this. Which meant that Victoire did. "I'll see you in the library tomorrow night?" She added to Anthony, resting her chin on the top of her book. He broke into an almost adorable smile that reminded her of a happy puppy.

"Great! I'll see you then!"

"Splendid." Just for the sake of it she slid out of the armchair and stood up, she let her hand linger on Anthony's shoulder for a moment. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight", he blinked dazedly, and she smiled to herself as she turned her back against him and left the common room. Once she was out of sight she could hear the room erupting in voices again.

The sixth year girls dormitory was two stairs up, and she took the steps two at a time. She would have about twenty minutes before the other girls decided to go to bed, and those few solitary moments were heaven.

She kicked away a pair of heels when she stepped through the door, and almost tripped over a towel someone had left on the floor. Four girls in one room, the place was chaotic even if the house elves cleaned every night. Charing a bathroom was worst, the shower was always occupied and the mirror too. So she decided to take the opportunity and shower now, instead of tomorrow morning.

She stepped out of everything except her underwear and then wrapped the thick bronze coloured towel around her. Tiptoeing she made her way to the bathroom, stripped out of the last pieces of clothing and stepped into the shower. The hot water rinsed away her troubles, and too soon she heard the other girls entering their dormitory. She shut the water off and wrapped the towel around herself again. Someone banged on the door, and she heard Britney's voice.

"C'mon hurry, there's more of us who live here you know!"

"Couldn't forget even if I wanted too!" She screamed back, rewarded with a growl. Victoire grinned to herself in the mirror, and the pale girl on the other side grinned back. She was beautiful, even with her usually flowing light blonde hair hanging in wet stripes around her heart shaped face. She had large grey-blue eyes framed with thick long eyelashes casting shadows down her faintly freckled cheekbones. Perfectly shaped eyebrows and a seductive arch of her lips. She knew she was good looking, with the flowing hair and the long legs, and she knew it was because of her veela-blood. The same reason boys tripped over their own feet when around her.

Probably the reason Britney and the other girls hated her guts.

Victoire knew she was beautiful, she knew she could get a boy simply by smiling towards him. Her mother told her it was a gift, but she'd never seen it that way, it felt more like a curse. She couldn't be friends with girls because of it, almost all boys found it too intimidating. Everybody had a tendency to start acting and lying around her, and she could never really get close to anyone.

Britney for example, they'd been friends once upon a time, in their first and second year, but once they turned thirteen Britney had turned on her. She'd started rumours about Victoire and talked behind her back. Soon their friendship had turned to coldness and enmity.

That's about the time when she stopped trying, stopped trying to be the lovely girl everyone wanted her to be. She'd found comfort in books, and the few friends she had left.

"Victoire!" Britney's voice cut through the door again, and she rolled her eyes while finishing brushing her teeth and stepping into her silk pyjamas. With the towel around her hair she threw the door up, successfully smacking Britney in the face.

"Ooops", she grinned as she walked by.

"Bitch." Britney said under her breath, only loud enough for Victoire to hear before the door fell shut behind her. The other girls were busy looking around for their things and getting ready for the night, Victoire bid neither of them goodnight before she pulled the drapes around her bed.

* * *

The next morning Victoire made her way down to the great hall for breakfast by herself, as usual. But when she entered, she heard a familiar voice calling her name across the room.

Dominique, her sister, were waving wildly at her from the Gryffindor table. She was surrounded by the rest of the family, including her brother, who was a first year. Victoire was the oldest, and Dominique was two years younger then her and in her fourth year. If Victoire saw her beauty as a curse, Dom saw it as a gift, she knew exactly how to use it. She could charm anybody into doing her bidding in that cheerful way that also let her keep friends. Sometimes Victoire wondered if they were real friends though, or just hung with Dom because of what she called a curse.

Everyone had turned around from Dom's waving, and one of them broke into a smile she couldn't resist. A smile that melted through her icy shield. She felt her lips turn upwards into a grin, the kind of smile only Teddy Lupin could conjure from her.

"Vicky Vicky, guess what?" Dom was jumping on the spot with excitement when Victoire reached them. Teddy caught her eye again, and they exchanged one of their wordless-glances.

"No what?" She sat down next to her brother, the youngest in the group, and in front of Teddy. Teddy was a seventh year, and the two of them where the oldest of the cousins. Well, he wasn't actually related, but he was uncle Harry's godson, and they counted him as one. Other than them there was Molly, fifth year, Fred, fourth year, James, third year, Lucy and Roxanne second year, and Louis.

"There's going to be an All Hallows Eve ball!" Dom squealed in an exited voice, as if the news were a gift from above.

"That's what this whole commotion is about?" Victoire said, immediately growing bored. Teddy grinned across the table at her, and her stomach fluttered involuntarily. If Anthony was one of the most popular boys in her year, Teddy was the most eligible one in the whole school. He was captain of the Gryffindor team, tall but toned from being a keeper. He had warm golden brown eyes, often blue hair and a wicked smile, he also happened to be her best friend.

"Apparently there's been a bit of a strain on the relationship between the houses according to the teachers and they thought it be a good way for us all to make nice." Teddy explained meaningfully, Victoire knew exactly what he meant. The hostility between Slytherin and the other houses hadn't exactly shrunken since the war, it had grown even worse, fuelled by defeat.

"How sweet of them." She said sarcastically, but her words were drowned out by Dominique's exited chattering. Victoire settled with heaving up some food, delighted that _she_ wasn't on the topic for once.

Looking up she found that Teddy was also quiet, their eyes met for a short second, and then he looked back down in the table. Was she just imagining it or was his eyes a shade darker then usual? He didn't look at her again during the whole breakfast, and when he waved goodbye to the group to go to his first class, he didn't meet her eyes.

Strange.

She couldn't let it go all the way to her potions classroom, and she was still pondering over the possibilities of his quickly changing mood when she sat down on her usual spot in the front of the class. The seat next to her was already occupied, and Priscill Vaisey gave her a once over look.

"You look rarely un-dazzling for being you." The black-haired girl said, and Victoire sent her a glare. That was probably the most kind way Pri had of asking her how she was feeling.

"It's nothing."

"Okay." Pri didn't ask further, because she didn't care. Hers and Victoire's relationship didn't extend beyond normal chit chat, Victoire wouldn't even categorize her as a friend. Maybe a companion, someone of a similar mind.

Funny how she found her match in a stone-faced slytherin girl who only smiled when someone tripped or got hit by a quaffle in a quidditch game. But somehow they'd developed their kind of "companionship" over the years. They were the only one who sat beside someone from the opposite house in their potions class, the rest of the Slytherins and Ravenclaw's kept as far away from each other as possible. Well, except for-

"Hey Weasley!" The voice reached her only a second before she felt something hit her in the back of her head. She turned around to glare at Elijah Nott, picking the quill out of her hair.

"Heard you're dating Corner now, why don't you go out with a real man instead?" Elijah hollered, and it was impossible for her to ignore him. Lucky Anthony wasn't in this class at least. Beside her Priscill turned around.

"Corner really? You can do better"

"Like Elijah?" She hissed under her breath, seeing him getting out of his seat in her peripheral vision. Elijah was on the slytherin quidditch team, and he was brutal.

"Well at least he's not boring", said Pri and Victoire had to act like she didn't agree with her companion as Elijah rounded their table. Pri had leaned back with a lazy smile, watching the show front row.

"So, what do you say?" Elijah leaned against the table, he was handsome, she couldn't deny that, with pale skin, dark eyes and tousled black hair. She also couldn't deny that she liked the way he wasn't unsure. And to be entirely true, she'd rather go out with him anytime instead of Anthony. But she'd only agreed to the studying session because she wanted to piss Britney off.

"I'm not interested in bullies" she said vaguely, barely giving him a glance. Pri sniggered beside her.

"You hurt me Weasley, when have I ever done anything against you?"

"Oh, I'm not talking about me." She smiled, the seductive kind, and she knew she had him hooked as she handed him back his pencil. "I think you dropped this." Who said she couldn't play with him a little after all?

"Students please be seated!" The teacher came in, effectively ending all banter and chattering. Elijah bent down quickly, his hand resting on her shoulder, just over her collarbone for a short second.

"Tease." He whispered, and then he was gone, sauntering back towards his table. Victoire had to restrain herself not to turn around and look after him.

"Told ya", Pri said faintly beside her "He's not boring."

No, he's dangerous. A small voice in the back of her hair said, she pushed it away.

* * *

Due to Elijah she actually forgot about Teddy's strange behaviour until dinnertime when she saw him again. He was sitting with his friends at the end of the Gryffindor table, and instead of passing them and sitting down at the Ravenclaw table alone, she walked over towards him with determined steps.

His friends noticed her before he did since he had his back against her. They all straightened up, poking at Teddy. Maybe she was an outcast to them, hanging with slytherins, but she was still part Veela and they all grinned stupidly as she came closer. Teddy turned around slowly just as she reached them, she crossed her arms. Partly because she felt like everyone was staring at her, partly because she was trying to look intimidating.

"Hi", Teddy said with a smile, but it seemed a bit strained.

"Can I talk to you for a moment?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Sure." He stood up unwillingly, or was she just overanalyzing his movements? They walked in silence through the doors, but once they were out of sight from the hall, she rounded on him.

"Are you angry with me or something? Because if you are I'd like to know what I did."

"I'm not angry with you Vicky." He looked at the ground, hands deeply thrust into the pockets of his robe. His eyes were lighter again, but more greenish than brown. He wasn't lying, but there was definitely something he wasn't telling her.

"Then why can't you even look at me?" Her voice grew softer, she simply needed to know. He finally looked up, his face was strained.

"I- I'm sorry, it'll be better in a few days", he stuttered, and then fled, leaving Victoire alone in the deserted hallway. She watched his retreating back with growing confusion.

She ate by herself that evening, she didn't mind though, she propped her tattered copy of Pride and Prejudice up on the table and let the imaginary characters be her company. The old muggle world always fascinated her to no end.

She tried her best to keep her thoughts of Teddy out of her head as she made her way to the library after dinner. Seeing Anthony simply to annoy Britney had lost most of it's previous excitement to her, and she couldn't quite conceal her boredom as she sat down in front of him at one of the tables. His face lit up again in that puppydog-eyed way.

"So, the history test-" He immediately started explaining and she only listened with one ear. She already knew all the answers, question five was quite a simple one even. Across the room her eyes fell on Chambers and Adams, both girls looked down the moment her eyes fell on them.

So Britney had sent someone to check up on her and Anthony? That immediately made things a lot more interesting.

When she turned back to Anthony she was wearing one of her dazzling smiles, and she could practically see the wires in his brain fretting away, making him stumble across his words.

"So, uhm, question seven, the Goblin Rebellion- uh, it started about-"

"I actually already know the answers", she said, looking down at the table, playing with a strand of her hair. She knew she looked shy and somewhat embarrassed in that position. Anthony leaned forward, his embarrassment fading when he saw hers.

"Then why did you not answer Britney?"

"Well I- I actually wanted a reason to see you." She kept her gaze at the table until the last word, and then gazed up behind a curtain of silvery hair. The bussing wires in his brain seemed to get a short circuit, and she knew she had him wrapped around her finger completely.

"Really?" He breathed, and she traced small circles across the table, letting out a small laugh.

"Why is that so hard to believe? You've got tons of girls wanting you." That wasn't a lie, he was popular.

"But- I mean- _you_." He seemed to be in some kind of daze, but this actually caught her interest.

"What do you mean _me_?"

"You're so… unattainable."

"I am?" For once she was actually surprised, it was Anthony's time to laugh.

"Are you kidding me? You turn guys down daily and they still line up for you."

"Oh."

"And I'm one of them." Anthony's cheeks reddened.

"One what?" She was still confused.

"One in the line", he explained kindly, she smiled gracefully. Time to pick things up a notch.

"You're _first_ in line", she said in a low voice, and then leaned across the table. She pressed her lips against his softly, he responded immediately, tentatively of course. She decided to make one final blow, and parted her lips slightly to deepen the kiss. Just when she heard him gasp softly she pulled away, a shy smile on her newly-kissed lips.

"I'm sorry I-" she started, and he caught her hand.

"Don't be- I mean, that was amazing, I can't tell you how many times I've dreamed about-" he fell silent, the blush not quite fading away. It was quite adorable, like a dog who begged for more candy. She allowed herself one quick glance towards Chambers and Adams, and caught a glimpse of their retreating backs as they disappeared out from the library.

Now it was time for her departure too. Still with a blush on her face she stood up hastily, gathering her stuff in a pile and pressing it against her chest. Anthony confusedly followed her movements.

"I have to go-", she stuttered like the love struck girl she was supposed to be.

"But stay!" Anthony reached for her, but she backed away.

"I'm sorry." She turned on her heel and ran out of the library.

* * *

Once she was out of sight she slowed down, she put her bag up on a windowsill and put her papers and books in neatly. Well he was definitely in love with her now, the only problem was for how long she was going to play him like this. She didn't want him to be _completely_ broken when she finally dumped him.

By now Chambers and Adams must have gotten the news to Britney, a winning grin spread across her lips as she thought how angry the other girl must be. She could practically see her spitting out ugly words about her as the other two nodded in agreement.

Victoire didn't feel like going back to her dormitory yet though, and there was still some time left until curfew. It was already dark outside, but the moon was full and illuminating. She decided she'd go for a quick stroll.

With her bag thrown across her shoulder she made it down to the grounds, when she pushed through the door the air wrapped around her like a cold hug. Her breath crystallised in the October wind. She shuddered under her shirt and blazer, but didn't want to go up and get her cloak. Instead she bit her lips together and strolled across the yard.

Fifteen minutes later her teeth were shattering and her fingers numb, she decided to head back. She half walked half ran back, the bag bouncing against her side. Her own breathing and the bouncing of her bag filled her ears, and she didn't hear the voices until she actually rounded the corner.

She froze, immediately backing back into the shadows. It was already past curfew now, who was out at this late hour?

Once she stood still the voices were crystal clear, only muffled by a whimpering sound. She leaned against the wall, slowly poking her head around it. There, by the entrance door, stood four large boys, they all had their backs towards her, hovering over something.

She suddenly realized that the whimpering came from a another shadow, a small boy pressed up against the wall in front of the large ones. His bag lay beside him, the items scattered all across the grass. His uniform was all messed up, ripped and muddy.

"-Filthy muggle blood-" Words finally reached her from one of the large shadows, and she had to withhold a gasp. Gabriel Lestrange.

To go to Hogwarts and not know Gabriel Lestrange was impossible, the lost son of the famous Bellatrix Lestrange. He was known for his brutality, especially on field. He'd even been expelled for a few months last year. He was a seventh year, and was always followed around by his slytherin thug friends.

While she was too shocked to move Lestrange had thrown a punch into the boy's stomach, he doubled over in pain, and the other shadows laughed. Victoire suppressed a whimper as the boy fell to the ground. She recognized him, he was in Louis's year, a muggle-born boy.

"Gabriel take it easy- you don't want to get expelled again." One of the shadows had moved to catch Lestrange's arm, he'd moved his leg back as if to kick the boy. Instead his foot collided with one of the scattered books. This time Victoire was too slow, and a small shriek escaped her lips. The other boy was Elijah.

The four of them turned around simultaneously, and she knew they'd seen her as she ducked back in behind the wall.

"There's someone there!" One of the guys said.

"What are you waiting for, get him!" She heard Lestrange growl as she ran. She heard footsteps behind her moments later, she reached for her wand, but it was buried deep in her bag.

A stunning spell hit her in the back, and she fell forward, scraping her knees and palms in the grass. She knew she was done the moment she fell, and felt a pair of strong fingers lace around her arm, dragging her up roughly. Suddenly she found herself eye to eye with Elijah, his eyes widened, and his grip loosened for a moment. Then his friend caught up with them, one of Lestrange's thugs. His eyes also widened as he recognized her.

"What are you doing here?!" Elijah hissed, his grip once again thigh around her arm as she tried to pull away.

"What are you doing to that boy?!" She shrieked, kicking wildly, the other guy had caught her other arm, and they had her in an iron grip between them. Despite her vigorous attempts to break free they managed to drag her back to Lestrange without much difficulty. Lestrange was just stepping away from the boy, who sobbing tried to get on his feet. He looked up at Victoire for a second, fear and tears in his eyes. Lestrange grabbed him by the collar, leaning down to speak in the trembling boys ear.

"One word about this, and _she_-" he nodded towards Victoire, "-dies." Victoire kicked out again in fear and chock, the seventh year boy on her left wrapped a muscular arm right around her neck in a strangling grip. Her eyes watered, he was blocking her airways.

"Do you understand me?" Lestrange asked the boy mildly, almost with a smile. Victoire blinked away enough tears to see the trembling boy nodding. "Get out of here." Lestrange shoved away the boy roughly, who fell to the ground and then scrambled for the door. She clawed at her capturers arms, and finally felt the pressure easing. He released her completely, and she fell to the ground gasping for air.

Lestrange hovered above her, a dark silhouette against the moonlit sky. Her brain was still foggy.

"Asshole", she managed to spit out, and Lestrange laughed.

"I like it when the pretty ones are fiery, don't you boys?" A murmur of agreement, Victoire searched for Elijah. She couldn't believe he'd go this far. He wasn't looking at her, he was facing away.

"Bring her up." Lestrange ordered, and someone pulled her up roughly again, moments later she was pressed up against the wall, Lestrange's arm pressed up against her throat. He was about a head taller than her, sturdy built and already had the face of a man. A scar ran across his left eyebrow, she wanted dearly to give him another one.

"Veela right?" He spun delightedly, running his other hand through her hair. "This must be new for you, to not be the one in control."

All she could do was gasp in response, he rolled his eyes, and the arm left her throat. Instead it travelled from her neck down to her collar, his hand unbuttoning another button. She shrieked, not having enough air to call for help she tried to push him away. His hand came to a stop as he'd revealed the hem of her bra, but it wasn't because of her feeble attempts. Elijah had moved forward, and Lestrange turned around with a humorous grin.

"You like this girl Nott?"

"Who doesn't?" Elijah grinned, and Lestrange pursed his lips.

"She _is_ hopelessly pretty." His hand went up to her face again, harshly catching her jaw, turning it upwards to force her to look at him. She growled, trying to wrench free. Lestrange sighed, suddenly letting go of her completely. She staggered towards the ground, Elijah diving for her. He crouched down next to her as Lestrange looked down at them both, his two thugs joining in behind him.

"If you keep her from talking I wont touch her Nott, but one word and I lose my patience."

"Thank you, I promise you won't have too." Elijah said, and Lestrange turned around swiftly to walk back into the castle. Victoire didn't breathe until the door fell shut behind the three boys.

Elijah's hand reached for her, but she scrambled away. He let her get up herself on unsteady legs, her voice was still hoarse as she spoke.

"What the hell Nott? What are you doing with these guys? They're criminals!"

"They wouldn't kill the boy, not really." Elijah said, but she could see that he didn't believe it himself.

"I'm telling the headmistress, now!" She moved towards the door, but Elijah's hand caught her already sore arm.

"No!"

"They are dangerous and they hurt that boy! We can't let them get away with it!" She was starting to get air back into her lungs and her voice rose. Elijah whipped her around, putting one hand on her mouth.

"Shut the fuck up!" He wheezed, and for the first time Victoire actually felt scared of him. "If you say one word about this to anyone we're both going to get hurt, you get it?" She nodded slowly against his hand, and he let it fall.

"I'm sorry you had to get dragged into this, but if you just pretend like nothing ever happened things will be fine, okay?"

"Okay…" She rubbed her neck, he grimaced slightly.

"I'm sorry about that-", he reached out towards her, but she edged away.

"Don't you dare touch me."

"You owe me your life!" He hissed back, but she kept backing back towards the door. Then she turned and ran.

**AN: First time I'm writing something from Victoire Weasley's point of view, she's always been kind of a bitch in my stories, or boring. I thought it be fun to try and do a piece and try her character out, even though I still can't make her very nice. It's just no fun writing nice characters you know? **

**This story actually started out as a humorous one, but it turned quite dark instead. Anyway, hope you like it and I'd love it if you left me a review! **

**/Facetake**


	2. Falling

_And I've been taking chances,_

_I've been setting myself up for the fall,_

_I've been keeping secrets,_

_From my heart and from and from my soul_

_**Lover To Lover **_**- Florence + The Machine**

* * *

**Chapter 2: Falling**

* * *

The next morning was Saturday, and also the first quidditch game of the season. Victoire woke up painfully, her throat was aching terribly and lifting her hands into the sunlight she saw they'd already begun to bruise. She carefully placed her hand above the bruises, perfect marks of a tight hand.

The dormitory was already empty and she slowly made her way to the bathroom, her body felt weak and slow. It had taken over an hour for her to stop shivering the night before, and once she'd fallen asleep she'd been haunted by nightmares.

She grimaced in the awkward bathroom light, she was pale as a ghost and her eyes seemed deep and hollow, dark circles under them. But even worse, her neck had started bruising up, making her look almost macabre. She groaned and splashed some water into her face, then went back to bed. In a few hours the game would start and the school would empty out, then she could go down to the infirmary and get something to make the bruises go away.

…

Victoire stayed in bed for the rest of the day, watching the weak sunrays moving across the room. No one bothered her until the afternoon, when Adams pushed through the door. Victoire expected Britney and Chambers to be following, and pulled the covers over her head.

"Elijah Nott asked me to give you this", Adams said in a tiny voice, and Victoire turned around in surprise as Adams dropped her bad by the floor. She'd completely forgotten that she'd dropped it the night before.

"Thanks", she mumbled to Adams, the girl nodded once before fleeing the room again. Victoire waited until the door was shut before she scrambled across the bed, a sigh of relief escaped her lips as she saw the corner of her _Pride and Prejudice _stick out from her bag. She hugged it too her chest tightly.

Of course she knew Elijah hadn't gone back for her stuff out of consideration, no he just wanted her to know that he was watching her. Shivering she leaned back into her bed, put the book under her pillow, and once again fell into a restless sleep.

_She was back in his cold grip, his fingers trailing down her jaw to her collarbone. His light icy touch frightened her more than if he__'__d hit her right in the face. They were alone, there was no Elijah here to save her this time, only Lestrange, hovering over her with hawklike eyes. He was murmuring something, and at first she was too distracted by the fact that she couldn__'__t move her body to recognize the words. _

"_So pretty__…__ so pretty__…__ a pity__…__ yes a pity__…__not even your fault. Your blood isn__'__t clean, defiled by veela magic, not your fault__…__ a pity__…"_

"_A curse__"__, she breathed, and Lestrange turned his eyes on her, his eyes gleaming in the moonlight. _

"_Exactly, cursed__…__ a pity.__"__ His hands cupper her face, his thumb brushing across her lip. She was frozen in time and room, maybe she wasn__'__t even alive? Maybe she was a statue? Maybe her curse had turned her into stone, and she__'__d never move again. _

_Lestrange__'__s eyes seemed almost sad as his fingers left her face. Suddenly the world around her came into clarity, she was standing at the small dock by the lake, the one she__'__d spent numerous warm spring afternoons on with Teddy. There was nothing happy about this dock now, it creaked whitunder her and the black water thundered against in ominously. Like a tiger waiting to pounce. _

"_Let me go, please let me go, I promise I won__'__t tell anyone.__"__ She begged, she couldn__'__t remember the last time she begged but she did it now, fearing for her life. The water continued to crash against the dock. One wave was stronger than the other, and washed up over the wooden dock, soaking her bare feet. _

_Lestrange seemed to smile, almost apologetically. __"__You__'__re beyond salvation Victorie.__"_

_She tried to scream, but no sound passed her lips, her feet were lead as he moved towards her. She felt so heavy, but he simply gave her a light scuff, his finger against her heart, and she fell. _

_For a moment, just as her heavy feat left the dock and before she hit the water, she seemed to hang suspended in the air. She met Lestrange__'__s eyes, his face now that of a statue. _

_Then she hit the water, it devoured her hungrily and she was lost within the dark waves. She tried to paddle, fighting furiously for her life, but her arms and legs wouldn__'__t move, helplessly she let the streams drag her further and further down into the depths of darkness__…_

Victoire woke gasping for air, she was sweating and shivering. Small rays of sun played across her cover and she parting her curtains she found her dormmates all sleeping in. It was Sunday morning, and she couldn't stay in bed anymore, she couldn't go back to the nightmare.

On unsteady legs she made her way to the bathroom, she took a long warm shower and noted that the medicine she'd gotten from the infirmary had worked, her bruises were almost faded away. Just to be safe she dressed in a long sleeved blue jersey and slung a scarf around her neck. Just as she pulled the door close behind her she heard the other girls beginning to wake up.

The common room was empty as she crossed through, well, _almost _empty.

"Vicky!" A familiar voice called, and she cursed under her breath. Anthony was by her side in no time, staring at her with those large puppydog eyes. She'd completely forgotten about him, her previous plans of leading him on only to annoy Britney felt petty and childish after her encounter with Lestrange.

"Hi", she managed to give him a brief smile, but then turned her gaze to her feet again. He fell in into step beside her as they headed out the door, she could feel that he wanted to say something, but didn't urge him. She'd rather he'd keep quiet.

"I was worried about you yesterday, I thought I'd see you at the game and when I asked Britney she said you were sick."

"Yeah I was, but I feel a lot better." She gave him what she hoped was a reassuring smile. It seemed to convince him.

"Too bad you missed the match though."

"Slytherin's beating some poor Hufflepuff ass, I think I'll survive", she said dryly and Anthony laughed.

"They did put up a good fight but you know how the slytherins are, Lestrange almost banged some poor kid's head in with his club."

"I'm not surprised." A shiver went through her, and she unwillingly cast a look over her shoulder. They walked for a while in silence, she wanted to get to the great hall, she hadn't eaten at all yesterday and her stomach was grumbling.

"Soo ehm…" Anthony suddenly started, they'd almost made it into the great hall and she gave him an impatient look. Anthony paused just in the doorway, and she unwillingly did the same. "I was thinking about what happened in the library… you know, the kiss? And then you ran away and I- I just wanted to know if you… you know…" He trailed off, his cheeks warming up. Victoire was for once glad he didn't look into her eyes because she didn't think she'd be able to bear it. She was just pondering about possible answers and put her weight on the other foot to buy some time.

"I uh-", she cleared her throat, wishing that she didn't have to deal with this at the moment.

The thing about wishes is, sometimes they're answered. This time, it came in the form of Teddy Lupin.

"Ey Vicky!" Teddy's voice drowned hers out completely, and then he slung his arm across her shoulder, giving Anthony a manly clap on the shoulder. "Corner, what did you think of the game yesterday?"

"It was okay" Anthony's voice wasn't exactly hostile, but he made it perfectly clear that Teddy wasn't welcome. Victoire shrugged Teddy's arm off subtly, she was still angry with him. But she didn't want to stay here with Anthony either, and she raised her eyebrow at Teddy when he glanced down at her.

"Where were you yesterday anyway?" Teddy asked, and Victoire had to suppress the urge to roll her eyes. Like he would have talked to her anyway.

"She was sick" Anthony said, his eyes on Teddy.

"I didn't ask you", Teddy's friendly manner had died away completely and he glared openly at Anthony. "C'mon Vicky, I wanted to talk to you." He caught her hand, starting to move.

"Actually I wanted to ask you if you wanted to hang or something today?" Anthony said hurriedly, taking a step out to effectively block her way.

"She already has plans", Teddy said coldly, and tugged at her hand away. Victoire felt the urge to slap him, but instead she swallowed her anger and gave Anthony a apologetic smile.

"Sorry, but I'll see you later." She just managed to say before Teddy dragged her away.

She let him keep her hand until they reached the Gryffindor table, and then withdrew it harshly.

"What is wrong with you Teddy? Two days ago you couldn't even look at me and now you act like it never happened!" She wheezed across the table, Teddy's eyes had followed Anthony all the way to his table, and he looked slightly unfazed when he turned them back on her.

"You're dating Corner?"

"_Teddy_!"

"I thought you had better taste then that."

"Of for the love of-" she started to stand up, but Teddy once again caught her hand.

"Look I'm sorry! Just sit down", he said . "Please." Damn those golden eyes.

"Fine", she sat down again, but withdrew her hand once again. She couldn't think straight when he was touching her, no matter how angry she was.

"Look I feel really bad about how I treated you and I wanted to make it up to you."

"How?" Victoire leaned backwards suspiciously. A playful smile ha started to spread across Teddy's lips, and she knew that when he looked like that he had a plan.

"When I said you had plans today I wasn't lying."

"You weren't?"

"Nope, today you're hanging with me, and I'm going to teach you how to play quidditch!" He grinned wickedly, and Victoire couldn't help but break into a smile too. Teddy had been the one who forced her on a broom for the first time a few years earlier, she didn't exactly have talent, but she managed to stay on it. Ever since then he'd been trying to get her to play but she'd always said she didn't want to.

"Well that's bold", she said. "You'd thought that the one apologizing would choose something the other one actually wanted to do."

"Oh c'mon Vic, it'll be fun." He looked at her with those puppydog eyes again, and she melted.

"_Fine_!"

"Great!" Teddy sat up straight with a happy grin, immediately starting to pile up food on his plate. Victoire watched him with one eye carefully as she followed him in a more respectable phase. What would her mother say if she started inhaling her food? That wasn't very ladylike behaviour.

…

"Really? That's what you're wearing?" Teddy asked when she joined him down at the quidditch pitch an hour later. It was still early and they would probably have it to themselves for a while, she was glad that nobody would be around to witness her humiliation.

"Well I don't have any quidditch clothes do I?" She snapped, she'd actually thought her stretchy jeans and leather boots had been a pretty good choice. They didn't even have heels or anything.

"Sorry, sorry!" Teddy held his hands up in defence but didn't loose his grin even though she glared at him. He handed her one of the school brooms, they were old and slow but that fit her perfectly. Teddy was dressed up in his usual training gear, the tight sweater showed his muscled arms and torso, Victoire swallowed.

"Vicky?" She didn't realize he'd been talking to her and she shook her head violently, trying to shake the thought of how it would feel to have those arms wrapped around her, in her hair and…

"Yeah?" She finally managed to concentrate, and Teddy laughed.

"Get on the broom!"

"Oh right." If she'd been anyone else she probably would have blushed but now she laughed silently and mounted the broom. Slowly she rose into the air until she hovering next to Teddy a few metres above the ground. He was bouncing the quaffle from hand to hand.

"This goes into the goalposts", he said seriously, and she rolled her eyes.

"Oh you don't say?" she gaped, and Teddy chuckled humorously. Victoire found herself breaking into a smile too, it was impossible not to be in a good mood around him when he was like that.

"Try to throw it." Before she could answer he'd thrown the ball towards her and she caught it in surprise. He nodded towards the goal hoops, and she wrinkled her nose.

"Alright, give me a challenge at least." That couldn't be too hard could it? She asked herself as she took the quaffle in her right hand and aimed.

Turns out it was. The quaffle struck the ground laughably far away from the goal, and Teddy looked extremely self-righteous and she brought her wand out of her back-pocket, Accio-ed the ball and threw it directly at him. This time her aim was better and he had to make a quick drop to avoid the sizzling ball. His smile dropped instantly and he glared at her. She sent him a dazzling smile.

"I guess it's all about motivation."

"Very funny", he said dryly. "You're throwing it wrong, let me show you." He dropped to the ground and waved for her to come down. She hesitantly followed.

"I thought the point was to stay _on_ the broom?"

"Well it's easier to show you on the ground." Teddy handed her the quaffle, "The thing is to put all your weight into the throw without loosing your balance, like this." Victoire jumped high as he wrapped his arms around her, closing his hand above hers. Heat radiated from his body and through her shirt, she had to take a deep breath to calm herself. She hoped dearly he couldn't hear her speeding heart.

"Relax, you're way to tense", Teddy said, and she felt his breath on her cheek. Well _that_ wasn't likely to happen as long as he was this close. He smelled of pine needles and mint, and she had to once again push away pictures way to inappropriate for their relationship.

"I'm trying", she said through gritted teeth, making the mistake of glancing up at him. His face was hovering just over her shoulder, his eyes flickered to her for a short second and she quickly looked back at the ball. She let him slide his hand up her arm and then felt his other on her waist as he adjusted her position. Her breath caught in her throat, and she had to cough to cover it up.

"Okay try now, move your arm like this." He moved his arm with hers, and then let her mimic it once by herself. Then he took a step back and gestured for her to try, Victoire' brain thankfully started working again and she concentrated on the goalpost before throwing.

The ball went gallantly right through the hoop, and she let out a small cry of joy.

"Woha, I didn't think you'd make it at the first shot." Teddy squinted against the faint sun, and she grinned.

"Well I guess I'm just full of surprises."

"I guess you are."

Victoire hadn't actually thought she'd be having any fun but to her big surprise she'd had a great time, especially when she managed to completely outmanoeuvre Teddy once. She had a faint suspicion that he'd actually let her win but she didn't really care. She'd completely forgotten about Lestrange, Elijah and the death threat hanging above her head, and hadn't felt this careless in weeks.

"I'm glad we did this", she said as they both landed on the ground. People had begun rustling around in the changing rooms and she suspected that it was scheduled training time for the teams were about to start.

"I am too. So I'm forgiven?" Teddy asked with large eyes, she pretended to think for a moment, then bumped into his shoulder lightly.

"Of course you are, you know I can't stay mad at you for long."

"Good, because I can't stand it." Teddy wrapped his arm around her shoulder, it was a casual gesture that he'd had since they were kids, but back then it hadn't sent sparks travelling down her arm. Still she enjoyed the feeling of safety it brought, and she leaned against him slightly as they headed out from the pitch.

The doors opened from the changing rooms were thrown open, and the Ravenclaw team begun pouring out. Victoire waved slightly to her housemates, and recognized Anthony's brown hair and broad shoulder. Inevitably they met in the middle, and she thought she felt Teddy's arm tightening around her shoulders.

"Hi Vicky" Anthony barely glanced at Teddy, and Victoire smiled, feeling slightly bad about how she'd treated him earlier. Not that she hadn't done worse, but still.

"Hi Corner, it's a beautiful day for quidditch isn't it?" Teddy said pointedly "I see you're scoring some extra time on the field, that's good, your team needs all the practise it can get."

"Teddy!" Victoire elbowed him in the side, but he barely seemed to notice, Anthony straightened up immediately, glaring at the still grinning Teddy. But Anthony wasn't a Ravenclaw for nothing, and instead of answering Teddy he turned to Victoire.

"So I was going to ask before if you wanted to go on another date? I had a real good time last time." His eyes rested on Victoire, and now Teddy's fingers were practically digging into her arm. She glanced at him and saw that his jaw was clenched and he was glaring openly at Anthony.

"She's not interested Corner, bugger off." He begun to drag her away, but Victoire dug her heels in, the veela side of her had sprung to life.

"No actually I had a good time too, I'd love to see you again." She smiled blazingly, and Anthony broke into a happy smile. It was almost laughably easy to make him happy. She shook Teddy's arm off her shoulder, and reached out to pull her hair out of her ponytail.

"Great so maybe next week, Hogsmeade?"

"Why wait, I need help with another essay." Victoire blinked, and Anthony seemed sway for a second.

"I-er, that's good." Colour had risen into his face, and Victoire decided in the spur of the moment to lean forward and place a slight kiss on his cheek.

"Good luck with training, you're going to kick ass in the next game."

"Their next game is against _us_." Teddy said coldly, and she turned around like she'd forgotten he was there. His eyes were almost completely black.

"I think she remembers", Anthony grinned victoriously as his team-mates begun to call for him. "I have to go, but see you tonight." He grinned towards Victoire before turning around and jogging up to the rest of the Ravenclaw team. Victoire followed him with her eyes and then turned back to Teddy with what she hoped was a bedazzled smile.

"Lets go eat lunch, I'm starving."

"I just lost my appetite", muttered Teddy as he held the door open so they could pass through the changing rooms.

"What's up with you now?"

"I just don't like Corner, the way he hangs after you. Why did you go out with him anyway?"

"He's nice and he's handsome, why wouldn't I? And besides it wasn't as much a date, he helped me study."

"Since when do you need help studying?" Teddy said sourly, and she glanced at him. Yep, that was definitely jealousy.

"I don't really" she smiled lazily, Teddy bit his teeth together and didn't say anything. She narrowed her eyes. "What's wrong with you now? I thought we where past that whole acting-weird thing?"

"I just didn't picture you to be the type to go out with someone like him, that's all."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Victoire stopped, sincerely offended. She wasn't actually interested in Anthony, she'd just strung him along because she liked the effect it had on Teddy.

"It means I just don't want to see you get hurt." Teddy said slowly, also stopping. They were on the ground now, and her hair swayed in the wind. Those weren't the words she'd hoped for, but it was all she was ever going to get from him.

"Well if I'm going to get hurt I don't think it will be by him." She pushed past Teddy, and then ran towards the castle. He didn't follow her, and she ran all the way to the Ravenclaw tower. Once inside her dormitory, which luckily was empty, she fell to her bed, buried her head in her pillows and cursed herself for falling in love with Teddy Lupin.

…

That night Victoire dragged the brush slowly through her hair, it fell in perfect waves around her shoulders without her even trying. She'd changed her jeans and boots into a pair of flats and a skirt, she knew she looked good, as usual. And she knew that any other girl would be bouncing around in excitement for the date, but she only felt a slight ray of guilt. She pushed away the feeling and headed out the door, her book bag slung across her shoulder, might as well get some studying done.

They'd decided to meet in the library like last time, they'd even said it in front of Brittany, but Victoire had been to off to even enjoy the look on the other girls face. Whatever she did Teddy's face popped into her head, and she wanted him out. She'd do anything, he was never going to feel something even remotely similar to her. He protected her like a friend or even a sister.

"Hi Anthony", she said, forcing a smile as she thumb down in front of him by the table. He immediately broke into a smile.

"I was beginning to wonder if you were going to bail on me."

"Why would I?" She pulled her potionsbook out of her bag and dropped it at the table with some parchment and a quill.

"Well because Lupin doesn't seem to like me very much and I know the two of you are good friends."

"Oh, I don't care what he thinks." She said coldly, and the answer seemed to make Anthony very happy.

"Good, because he's sitting over there" he nodded towards the other side of the library, and Victoire turned around to find him at the same table Chambers and Morgan had occupied at their previous date. Teddy was looking straight down into a book, not noticing her, but she knew him well enough to see that he was completely tensed up.

"Forget about him", she said as she turned back to Anthony. Teddy's presence made her desperation grow even stronger, and she could practically feel her vicious veela blood sizzling in her veins. She was barely aware of her own actions when she stood up.

"Where you going?" Anthony asked confusedly, and she reached out her hand towards him.

"I just remembered I need to get a book from the back of the library, can't you come with me?"

"Okay" Anthony looked even more confused but loyally let her drag him up and lead him away. Just before they went into the shadows of the large bookcases Victoire looked across her shoulder straight towards Teddy. Their eyes met, vicious light ones flashing against furious dark ones. Then he was out of sight, and she closed her eyes for a moment. She was back in her nightmare, the waves dragging her down into the depths of darkness.

She was falling either way, why not do it right?

"Vicky were are we going?" Anthony brought her back to reality, and she pushed away all thoughts and morality she had. She grinned like a Cheshire cat in the dark, and dragged him behind a bookcase at the back that was completely deserted and covered with layers of dust.

"I thought you were getting a hang of it by now", she spun "I don't need help with my homework, and there's no book."

"But-" Anthony finally seemed to realize what she was saying, and she kept her grin on. Somehow she felt like a hunter stalking a pray in the dark, she'd let go of his hand but he was drawn to her like a magnet. She backed up slowly against the shelf, he hesitated, and she caught his collar, pulling him into a deep kiss. He gasped, answering it eagerly, his hands travelled from her face down to her waist and pulled her closer.

Victoire knew somewhere in the back of her mind that what she was doing was mean, vicious and wrong, but she pushed them away in desperation. She was falling fast, but yet she hadn't hit rock bottom.

Might as well make the journey worth it.

* * *

**AN: Poor Anthony, they way she's treating him. Not very nice, and what's up with Teddy anyway? Acting like a douche and all? And Vicky Vicky Vicky, you really feel like screwing up every aspect of your life don't you?**

**No but seriously, the plot thickens and Victoire is in the middle of it. **

**Thanks to Hats.96 my first reviewer, means a lot! Support is what keeps me going through a story.**


	3. All Hallows Eve

_The shackles on my words are tied  
Fear can make you compromise  
Fasten up it's hard to hide  
Sometimes I want to disappear_

'_**Houdini' - Foster The People**_

* * *

**Chapter 3: All Hallows Eve**

* * *

Victoire stared across the hall, the boy didn't notice her following his every move. It was the little muggleborn boy from Gryffindor that Lestrange had messed up the week before. She briefly wondered if he'd been hunted by nightmares too, he was probably even more afraid. Too afraid to tell anyone that's for sure, that had actually been what she'd been fearing, that he'd tell and then Lestrange would go after her.

She could practically feel the waves pressing down around her, and pushed away her plate in disgust. The great hall was beginning to fill up, and she was just about to get ready to leave when Dom came skipping through the doorway. The last day's her sister had been even more sparkly than usual, and all thanks to the silly dance.

"Oh great you're here!" Dom said excitedly, dumping down in front of her. Victoire looked around uncomfortably, she wanted to leave before Lestrange came, or Elijah, or Anthony, or Teddy.

"I was actually just about to leave-"

"Oh no you're not." Dom's hand shot out and trapped Victoire's, forcing her to stay at the table. "We have some serious talking to do."

"You know I'm the big sister right? I'm supposed to lecture _you_."

"Well you usually don't."

"I'm really not the one to judge people." She said darkly, sure, they way she played with people Dominique's happy flirting seemed completely innocent to her.

"Well I need to talk to you about this Teddy thing-"

"What Teddy thing?" Victoire immediately tensed up, she hadn't talked to him since they'd had that fight a few days ago.

"You're fighting! And he won't tell me why and you won't tell me why and I can't possible understand why because you're both too damn secretive! But I know you have to get past it, you're _best friends_." Dom said meaningfully, and Victoire knew that it was that look of compassion was the difference between her and her sister.

"I don't think we are anymore", she muttered.

"Why not?"

"He's been acting really weird lately and I'm not ready to forgive him yet okay?" Victoire snapped.

"Is this about Anthony Corner?" Say what you want about Dom, but she was quite perceptive when she wanted to be.

"I don't know…" Victoire hesitated. "Maybe, he doesn't seem to like him very much." She dearly regretted that night she'd made out with Anthony in the library, she'd done it in pure desperation, and now it would constantly follow her. She knew the rumour was they were dating, or that they'd slept together or whatever, none of them were true of course, but Teddy didn't even look at her when he passed her in the hallway anymore.

"Of course he don't, he never thinks anyone's good enough for you. And maybe he doesn't exactly like the thought of you hooking up with someone in the back of the library."

"Dom! How do you know that?" Victoire exclaimed.

"Teddy told me, well, he confirmed it, the whole school knows. So did you sleep with him yet?" Dom's eyes flashed excitedly, and Victoire's nausea grew stronger.

"You are way to young to be asking those questions!"

"So you _have?__"_

"No! Don't believe everything you hear Dom. I'm actually not even talking to him right now, and I really should get going-"

"Okay fine I'll drop it! But I actually had another thing to talk to you about."

"What?" Victoire sighed, ready to leave the moment she had the chance. Behind Dom she saw that Lestrange had entered the room, he was followed by his goons and Elijah. Lestrange nudged Elijah, nodding her way, and they both grinned. She gulped, pressed her books tighter to her chest and forced her eyes to stay on her sister.

"The dance! It's soon and we need to get dresses!"

"I don't think I'm going."

"Why not?" Dom looked absolutely horrified.

"Because I don't want to?"

"That's out of the question, you're going, and you're going shopping this weekend with me and the rest of the family. Including Teddy, that way you two can make up."

"I really don't think the two of us spending time together is a great idea."

"Oh it's a wonderful idea! You've got no choice." Dom smiled gracefully, snatched Victoire's toast and left.

Damnit.

She pushed her stuff into her bag roughly, and then hurried as quickly as she could out of the hall. The muggleborn boy had also left she noted, he'd probably left the moment Lestrange entered.

She took a breath of relief as she was out of sight, and headed directly for her potions class. It was good because Anthony didn't have it, and bad because Elijah did.

The classroom was still almost empty as she reached it, and she sat down in the front as usual. She'd begun to doodle on the side of her book when she heard someone sitting down beside her, she'd assumed it was Priscill since they always sat together, and she practically jumped out of her skin when she found herself eye to eye with Elijah.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you", he said with a low laugh.

"I seriously doubt that." She etched away from his as far as possible in her seat.

"You know what Victoire, I think I've seriously misinterpreted you all this time. I've always thought you were just a rebellious little rich girl with a very pretty face." He paused to reach out, carefully pushing her hair back behind her ear. She grew cold, biting into her lip to keep her calm face. She couldn't show him her fear, she had to act like that night had never happened. "But now I'm beginning to wonder, sleeping with Corner? Now why would you do that? We both know he's not your type."

"Do we?" She didn't bother correcting him, it didn't matter to her what he thought.

"Of course, he's not nearly enough fun. And to be honest I'm a little hurt, I thought you and I had something."

"If it was up to me I'd like you to stay as far away from me as possibly." Victoire turned straight to him, her voice venomous. When his grin grew even wider she realized that her firing up had been exactly what he wanted.

"Merlin you're even hotter when you're angry", he mused. "And for the record, it's not up to you."

"I've noticed." She stared straight ahead again. "Would you please leave me alone now, I'm saving that seat for someone."

"Yeah, I'll leave as soon as you agree to go to the dance with me."

"_What_?" She lost her calm again, whipping around in disbelief. Elijah leaned forward, and to anyone else in the room it would just look like he was telling her a secret or something, and no one saw the fear growing in her eyes as he spoke.

"The only reason Gabriel hasn't touched you is because I've told him you're mine, and as long as you are you're safe. One word for me and a few bruises will be the least of your problems Weasley."

"Threatening a girl to get her to go out with you, and I thought you had moves." She said dryly, even though she was on dangerous waters now. Elijah's smile fell, and he gripped her arm tightly, fingers digging in hard.

"One word Weasley, one word."

"Fine. Let me go!" She pushed his hand away, grasping her arm. A shadow fell over the table, and they both looked up to find Priscill glancing down at them curiously.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything." She said in her usual dry voice, Elijah grinned charmingly, getting out of the chair and gesturing for Priscill to sit.

"No worries, I was just about to leave."

"Great, I'm not in a good mood today and you're making it worse Nott", Priscill said airily. Victoire sent her companion a thankful thought.

"Always the charmer Vaisey", Elijah smiled coldly. "I'll see you all hallows eve then." He said to Victoire, and then sauntered away to take his seat in the back. Priscill's eyebrows shot up high, and she turned to Victoire with large eyes.

"_What_ was that about?"

"I didn't think we thought about that kind of stuff." Victoire said sourly, hoping that the teacher would turn up so she could finally get away from everybody's questions.

"We do when you're going to the dance with Nott even though everyone knows you slept with that Corner guy."

"I didn't sleep with him!" She exclaimed, a bit higher then she'd intended, Pri smirked humorously.

"Sure."

"I'm serious, why does everyone automatically believe everything they hear in this place?"

"Whatever, I didn't think you'd actually go for Nott."

"Well he was very… persuasive", she said darkly.

"I for one think he's hot, you know, definitively got that bad-boy vibe."

"Yeah, must be that," Victoire said in a silent voice, and thankfully fell silent as the teacher came through the door.

Her plan to avoid everything had gone through the window, and she definitely didn't have a way to get out of this. She didn't doubt for a second that Elijah was telling the truth, and she would do just about anything to stay away from Lestrange.

She wondered what her family would say, her parents would surely find out, it was unavoidable. Dom would tell them, or Teddy, Teddy would definitely not approve. But then since when did she care about what he thought anymore? He'd made it perfectly clear that he was going to keep acting like a jerk.

**…**

Victoire managed to keep avoiding Anthony until the same night, he caught up with her just as she was going to go into their common room. For once he didn't look as happy as he used to, he was actually almost looking angry.

"Vicky are you avoiding me? Because if you are I don't know what I've done." His lips went into a straight line, and she vividly thought that it was the first time she didn't see him smiling.

"I'm sorry Anthony, I've had a lot on my mind."

"I don't understand, you're the one who practically threw yourself over me that night in the library!"

"Are you saying you didn't want to?" Victoire said, her voice growing colder. Anthony's irritation faltered and he returned to his old self, stammering out an apology.

"That's not what I meant- I just- Brittany says you're just using me to get back at her."

"So what if I did? You've apparently been going around telling everyone we had sex."

"I didn't say that! I promise, I have no idea where that rumour came from you've got to believe me!" Anthony pleaded, his eyes growing big and all puppydog-like again. She bit into her lip.

"I don't, and I don't think we should see each other anymore."

"But I- I was going to ask you to the dance… I promise it wasn't me!" He caught her hands, and Victoire wondered for a second if she believed him or not. He seemed like such a nice guy, too nice, but you never really knew people on the inside.

"I'm already taken." She said coldly, pushing Anthony away from herself. She had to end it with him, she couldn't keep sneaking around like this around him. Better now than later.

"Victoire-"

"Look Anthony, I _was_ just using you to get back at Brittany, and now you're not of any interest to me anymore so I suggest you stop annoying me and save us both some time. I guarantee you you're better off without me anyway."

Anthony blinked, his hands falling to his sides. Her words had hit perfectly, he wouldn't bother her anymore. She didn't wait for an answer before she turned and went into the common room, letting the door fall shut behind her.

She'd already begun to forget about him when he was out of sight.

**…**

"So I don't know what I'm going to go for, dangerously sexy or classy beautiful." Dominique mused out loud as they walked into the store, she immediately headed for the brightest and most colourful section of the store. Victoire and Rose exchanged a meaningful glance before following.

"I'm thinking the second one since you're only fourteen." She said, pulling the short black dress her sister had been examining out of her grip. Dominique's frowned but didn't argue.

"I was leaning towards classy anyway."

"Who are you guys going with anyway?" Rose asked as she started sorting through the dresses, red hair bouncing around her shoulders. The three of them had headed for Hogsmeade early, hoping to get to the good dresses before the rest of the girls in school. Victoire wished she could also feel the excitement her sister and cousin felt, but every time she thought of dressing up she thought of Elijah.

"Scott Clearwater asked me, but I think I'm going to go with Philip Spinnet", said Dom, and again Victoire and Rose glanced at each other.

"Come again?" They echoed together.

"Scott asked me and I said yes but that was before I knew Philip was available." She explained calmly, and Victoire recognized a bit of herself in her sister for once.

"Classy", said Rose dryly, and Victoire grinned into the dress she was holding up before her.

"I was speaking to Lucy and Roxanne yesterday" Dom continued "I think it's unfair the dance is only for fourth years and up. They were really jealous."

"I thought you liked jealous." Victoire said, crossing her arms, Dominique rolled her eyes.

"I do, but not when it comes to family. Oh what about this dress?" She held up a scarlet dress with thin straps. Victoire nodded in approval.

"What about you then Vicky?" Rose asked, she'd moved and was beside Victoire now as they sorted through the dresses.

"What about me?"

"Who are you going with? Anthony Corner?"

"Uh, we're not exactly a thing anymore.", she said with a shrug. "Who are you going with?" She added to avert the question from herself, to her big surprise Rose suddenly blushed.

"Er… well, I know this is kind of strange and you won't approve, my dad would kill me if he knew, but I'm going with Scorpius Malfoy."

"_What?" _Dominique and Victoire both dropped their dresses, and Rose went even redder.

"How? Why? _How_?" Dominique whispered. "I thought you hated him!"

"I don't hate him! I just… He's not a bad person just because he's a slytherin you know?"

"But he's a _Malfoy_!" Dom wrinkled her nose, picking her dress up.

"Well I don't think you should judge people from their name." Rose said defiantly, turning her back towards them.

"As long as you don't regret it I think it's great", Victoire said, and Rose smiled thankfully across her shoulder. She'd never seen Scorpius with either Lestrange or Elijah except on the field, and had no reason to think ill of him.

"I knew you'd understand", said Rose.

"You two are strange", said Dom, drifting towards the other end of the store. She picked up a pair of high heeled pumps and examined them closely.

"But you're avoiding the question Vicky, who are _you _going with?" Rose urged, and Victoire took a deep breath. They were going to find out either way.

"Elijah Nott."

"What?" The shoes scattered across the floor, and the owner glared at them from the counter. Dom and Rose didn't seem to notice.

"What? You're going with Malfoy", Victoire said accusingly to Rose.

"Yeah, but he's not hanging around with Lestrange! You know that gang is sketchy."

"I thought you didn't judge" Victoire snapped, and Rose fell silent. Dom on the other hand had made a beeline back to them, eyes two times her usual size.

"Mom and dad are not going to like this."

"Well if you keep your mouth shut they won't have to know", she hissed.

"Of course they will, if I don't tell them someone else surely will!"

"Well by then it will be too late. Look there's nothing you can say that will make me change my mind, just keep your mouth shut okay. I don't want people talking."

"Oh they're going to talk alright." Dom said, and then stalked back to pick up the shoes. Rose looked at Victoire worriedly.

"Are you sure about this?"

"Are you sure about Malfoy?"

"Touché."

The rest of the morning Dominique barely talked to her, until she found a pair of exquisite shoes and forgot to be mad. Victoire found a dress herself that she couldn't help but love despite the situation. It went down to her mid thigh, was creamy white with a lovely pattern of glittery diamonds (not real of course) sowed onto it. One of the thing she liked was the long arms, she couldn't stand the thought of Elijah touching her bare skin.

Dom picked out a pair of grey pumps to go with the dress, and like that that Victoire was ready for the dance.

**…**

All hallows eve came faster then she'd cared for, and before she could prepare herself she was standing in front of the mirror in her dorm with the dress and shoes on. Behind her was chaos, Brittany, Adams and Chambers were all wiggling into dresses, exchanging shoes and fixing each others hairs. Brittany had said at least a million times how exited she was for the dance, exited because she was going with Teddy Lupin.

"- I mean, I was so surprised when he asked me, but then I thought, why not? He's very handsome." Brittany said, and Victoire suppressed a wave of anger. Teddy wasn't her friend anymore, but he knew how she felt about Brittany. How could he do that?

"You're okay with this, right Vicky?" Brittany suddenly chirped, and Victoire turned around with a grim smile.

"Sure, I knew you liked leftovers."

"What?" Brittany dropped her hands from Adam's hair, screwing it all up.

"Well you know, I slept with Corner, and you seemed to have a thing for him, and Teddy was my friend but I'm done with him too now. Leftovers my dear, leftovers."

"God you're even more despicable than I thought, how do you live with yourself treating people like that?" Brittany said, recovering quickly. Victoire's smile dropped.

"It's quite easy actually. When you look like me people love you anyway." She shook her hair out, it looked amazing just hanging around her shoulders and she didn't have to put it up in an elaborate bun. She didn't think she could stand Brittany much longer, and with a swift movement she caught her book from the foot of her bed before heading towards the door.

"Yeah, but to what extent." She heard Brittany mutter just before the door fell closed. Victoire leaned against it, those words effected her more then she liked them too.

She still hadn't finished Pride and Prejudice, and slowly went down to the common room to cosy up in one of the armchairs. She kicked her shoes of and stuck her legs in under her before loosing herself from the reality for a moment.

Too soon she was disrupted by a third year girl nervously tapping her on the shoulder.

"Elijah Nott is waiting for you by the door", she said, and then quickly scurried away. Victoire got to her feet unsteadily, her balance not exactly improving when she stepped back into her heels.

Victoire felt like she was going to her own funeral, ceremonious somehow. She stepped through the door, closing it tightly behind her. Elijah was leaning against the wall, looking handsome in all-black dress robes. She didn't smile, barely acknowledged him when she started walking down the stairs. She was used to people following her anyway, and just because Elijah was dangerous didn't mean he wouldn't too.

"You're going to have to look a lot happier then this when we get to the dance." He said when he caught up, casually linking his arm with hers.

"I'll do my best." She kept her gaze forward.

"And I've got to say, you're looking ever better than usual, almost like a queen." He bent down, whispering the words into her hair. She shivered.

"Go to hell."

"Now that's not very ladylike." Elijah shook his head disappointedly, his arm tightening. Victoire knew she shouldn't press him, but she couldn't help it.

They'd almost reached the great hall now, and chatting voices reached her ears. Here and there other couples came around corners, everybody looked twice when they saw them. Elijah gave her a meaningful look, and she forced a small smile onto her face.

She was sure everyone was looking when they walked through the doors to the great hall, but she tried to ignore it. Instead she tried to look impressed by the transformation the hall had gone through, the ceiling was enchanted to look like the starlit sky, the walls were completely black, giving the impression that they were outside and not in a room. Floating chandeliers hung suspended on the walls and the ceiling, someone had really outdone themselves.

"I was beginning to worry you'd been lying to me Elijah, I'm pleased to see you weren't." Lestrange had slid up on Victoire's other side, and she froze. Elijah laughed, but she thought it sounded strained.

"Wouldn't dare do that for the world Gabriel, not even for a girl like her."

"Well you better keep a good eye on her tonight, I think you have some competition." Lestrange looked across the room, and Victoire followed his gaze until it landed on Teddy. His eyes as black as the sky above him, his face looked pale in the flickering lights from the chandeliers. Beside him Brittany's face was completely stunned, and her arm fell from were it had been laying on Teddy's.

"I'm not afraid of him", said Elijah with a snort.

"Of course you aren't." Lestrange smiled knowingly, and then leaned down towards Victoire slightly "Save a dance for me won't you?"

"I'm here with Elijah", Victoire swallowed hard.

"Oh he won't mind, will you?" Lestrange glanced at Elijah, who shook his head.

"Well then I can't wait", she said through gritted teeth. Lestrange grinned humorously and then walked away. She glared at Elijah.

"You're afraid of him aren't you?"

"I'd be crazy if I wasn't." Elijah hissed back, gripping her arm tightly and dragging her away to get some punch. He poured her some, and she accepted it reluctantly.

"So what am I supposed to do tonight? Just walk around and look pretty next to you?"

"I was thinking you were going to put a bit more effort into this then _that_", he said, slipping his arm around her waist and letting his hand rest on her hip. She cringed slightly, and then took a sip of her punch.

"Vicky!" Suddenly Rose turned up in front of her, and Victoire put on what she hoped was a happy smile.

"Hey Rosie, you look great." They hugged briefly, and Victoire noticed that Rose kept her hand entwined with Malfoys. He and Elijah briefly to each other, and the coldness between them only made Victoire like Malfoy more. She extended her hand, now with a genuine smile.

"Hi, I'm Victoire."

"I know, Scorpius Malfoy", he said with a grin.

"I know" she responded, and Rose rolled her eyes.

"I knew you two would get along. But more importantly, which one of us is most in trouble do you think?" She said meaningfully. Victoire forced a laugh.

"I'm not sure, I'm thinking you? No offence." She added to Malfoy, he simply shrugged.

"Damnit, I knew I should have gone with a Hufflepuff." Rose giggled, and Victoire surprised noted that her cousin was acting positively in-love. They'd have to talk about that later.

"Victoire let's go-" Elijah had noticed his friends across the room, and started pulling at her.

"Wait- have you seen my sister? I'd like to threaten the guy she's taking a littlebit."

"Oh it's all right, I already did that." Rose grinned.

"And did it work?", she asked, Rose wasn't exactly very intimidating.

"Oh I helped." Malfoy chimed in.

"Well then I-" Elijah gave her a hard thug, and she had to follow him. "I'll see you later", she waved to Rose, who's face had gone slightly suspicious as she watched them walk away. Victoire turned back to Elijah with a growl.

"If you want people to buy that I'm here by my own free will you're going to have to act nicer."

"They're not the one's I care about fooling."

"Well I'm not feeling like hanging with your friends, I came here with you, that's all you can make me do." She stopped abruptly, unfortunately they were in the middle of the room, and the band had just started playing. Couples flowed onto the floor, Elijah wrapped his hands around her waist.

"Fine, let's dance."

"No I don't want to-"

"_Dance." _He hissed, "and try to look like you want to." Victoire wrapped her arms around his neck, but didn't look into his face as they started to sway to the music. She saw her sister joining the dancefloor with her date, she didn't recognize the boy but he was cute. And suddenly Teddy and Brittany swirled by, Brittany was wearing a daring red dress and blazing lipstick. Victoire couldn't deny that she was good looking, especially with those curves. Teddy barely glanced at her, and when she averted her eyes, they instead fell on Anthony.

He was dancing with some girl from Hufflepuff, Victoire didn't remember her name, and didn't particularly care. She looked completely love-struck, but he seemed more bored. He met her eyes for a second, and all she could see was hurt.

"How long do I have to be here?" She said coldly, and Elijah responded by pulling her closer.

"I wouldn't be asking those kinds of questions if I were you."

She kept silent, swaying with him for a few more songs, she felt sick, but she had no choice. They didn't break apart until someone tapped her shoulder lightly. Elijah immediately stopped, and she knew that it was Lestrange even before she turned around.

"May I take over?"

"Sure, I need to get something to eat anyway." Elijah said quickly, slipping away. Victoire glared after him while Lestrange extended his hand for her to take. It was warm against her cold one. He pulled her in and wrapped his other arm around her, resting his hand at the base of her waist.

"If I had been a more paranoid person I'd be thinking you didn't want to be here." He said silently, not looking at her but at the other couples. Victoire's heart raced.

"It's a good thing you're not paranoid then."

"I guess so." They continued to dance in silence for a while, and Victoire was using all her willpower to try and breath steadily. She'd always imagined Lestrange to be just another bully, but he was observing and cunning, a lot more so then she'd ever imagined.

"Your friend is coming over here now." Lestrange suddenly announced, and Victoire whipped around to see that Teddy was making his way through the crowd.

"Oh I promised him a dance too." She lied with a shrug, trying to look casual. Lestrange nodded with a smile.

"If you say so."

"Can I cut in?" Teddy was suddenly by her side, but he was looking at Lestrange, not even a trace of a smile on his face.

"Of course you can Lupin, but I think you might want to return her to her date after this dance." Lestrange blinked, kissed her hand and then swiftly disappeared into the movement of flashing dresses and couples. Teddy didn't move, and she turned to him, hands by her sides.

"What do you want?"

"To talk to you." Teddy's eyes still wasn't on her, his jaw clenched. She growled silently.

"If you're just going to stand there I'm not interested, I have other things to do than-" He'd caught her just as she was about to leave, catching her hand and pulling her back into his arms. Her breath hitched, hands against his chest. She'd dreamed of a moment like this, and now she couldn't enjoy it because they were both angry with each other.

"Shouldn't you get back to your date?" She asked venomously.

"Not if that means you're going back to _yours_."

"Look Teddy what do you want from me? You didn't like Anthony, I'm not with Anthony. At least I'm not here with a person I know you hate!"

"I hate Nott", Teddy growled.

"No you don't! But you know how I feel about Brittany, and still you're here with her! I know we're not exactly friends right now but I _never_ thought you'd do something like that to me." Victoire couldn't help it but her eyes watered, she didn't usually cry, but sometimes she did when she was angry, and right now she was angry, scared and confused. She blinked, wiping at her eyes with the sleeves of her dress. When she looked back at Teddy it was like some of his anger had washed away, now he seemed just as unhappy as her.

"I didn't mean to hurt you- well, I did, but I- I can't control it." He growled, she felt his hand knitting into a fist against her back. She narrowed her eyes.

"Teddy what is going on? Is something wrong with you?"

"I just can't stand seeing you with Corner, and now with Nott, and _Lestrange_, do you know how dangerous he is?"

"That's none of your business." She pulled away, she hated lying to Teddy even though she was angry with him. Pushing through the couples she walked towards the door as fast as she could without running. She heard him following her, once outside the great hall she kicked her shoes off and fell into a run.

"Vicky!" He called after her, but her vision had gone blurry, she thought that if she just kept running she would leave it all behind. Teddy, Elijah, Lestrange.

"Victoire _wait_." He'd rounded her without her even noticing, she wondered somewhere in the back of her mind how he was so fast? But her brain never really registered the thought and it went away.

"Don't touch me!" She pushed his hand away, and he finally let his hands fall.

"I'm sorry I went with Brittany, it was a bad move, I promise I won't do anything like that again."

"Teddy I know you mean that but you keep saying that and you never keep your promise." She could never tell him why it hurt so much, he'd never understand.

"I'll try harder."

"It's not going to be enough, maybe we're just not as good friends anymore. People stop being friends all the time right? It's no big deal." She shrugged, but inside she was breaking. Teddy looked crestfallen.

"Bye Teddy", she said silently. Knowing that if she didn't leave now she'd never be able to.

"No." She'd barely registered his words before she was backed up against the wall, Teddy's hands around her shoulders. He'd moved faster then she'd thought was humanly possible, or was that just her brain going haywire? His face was so close to hers, eyes blazing like wolf's in the night. She couldn't recognize the usually sweet and boyish Teddy she'd known.

"Teddy what-"

She never got to finish her sentence when he pressed his lips against hers.

* * *

**AN: Dumdumdumduuuuuuuum! So Teddy have been thinking about her as more then a friend? Now what?**

**Thanks to ****When the clock strikes twelve ****for reviewing (always nice with a familiar face, so to say^^) Maybe you're on the right track, but I wouldn't tell you. That wouldn't be very fun.**


	4. Animal

_I'm gonna harden my heart  
I'm gonna swallow my tears  
I'm gonna turn and leave you here_

_**- "Harden My Heart" Quarterflash**_

* * *

**Chapter 4: Animal**

* * *

Victoire gasped in surprise, Teddy's hands slammed into the wall on either side of her face. Even if she would've wanted to she couldn't have escaped. But that thought didn't even cross her mind, Teddy's kiss was totally different from any other. The pure need in his movements made her mind go blank.

She'd answered the kiss without thinking, and his hands moved down to grip her waist, pulling her against him. Victoire braided her arms around his neck, bringing herself closer to his face. Her hands played with his hair as her lips moved against his.

He'd been crouching down towards her all this time, but now she yelped in surprise as his hands slid down to her thighs, took a firm grip and hoisted her up until her face was levelled with his. She automatically wrapped her legs around his waist, for the first time catching a glimpse of his eyes.

If she thought they'd been dark before it was nothing like this, they were completely black, like the eyes of an animal. She couldn't see a trace of the cute boy she knew within them. A strike of fear shot through her, but when he started kissing down her neck she forgot it instantly, her arms tight around his neck. She was suddenly very aware that his hands were gripping her thighs and her dress had ridden up to her upper thighs.

"Teddy-", she gasped, her voice faint. He kissed her collarbone, following it out towards her shoulder, meanwhile his hand had travelled up her leg, suddenly playing with the hem of her dress. Her mind was buzzing, and she could barely form coherent words.

"Teddy-", she tried again, her voice louder. He still didn't respond, and she caught his face between her hands, forcing him to look at her. "_Teddy!"_

It was like if she'd flipped the lightswitch, his eyes cleared up and he suddenly released her completely. She let out a surprised yelp as she staggered against the wall, just barely avoiding crashing towards the floor. Teddy had moved to the other side of the corridor, pressing up against it as if he wanted to come as far away from her as possible.

"Vicky- I am- are you okay? I am so sorry-", he panted, taking a step forward towards her, but immediately stepping back. Victoire still hadn't caught her breath either, and now she was confused as hell. She tried to regain some of her dignity when she stood up straight, pulling her dress down. Teddy didn't look at her the whole time.

"What is going on? Of course I'm okay", she said, thankfully her voice was steady enough. Teddy glanced quickly at her, as if checking for himself. Victoire took the opportunity to move towards him, trying to catch his hand.

He was several steps away in a heartbeat. "Please don't touch me."

"What?" Victoire's hands fell to her sides, feeling like he'd hit her right across the face. "You just kissed me!"

"I know, it was a mistake, I am so sorry- I promise it will never happen again." He turned around, starting to walk away with long steps. Victoire stood frozen, watching him rounding the corner and out of sight.

Victoire didn't know exactly how long she stood there for, but when she slowly leaned against the wall, sliding down onto the floor, she had tears in her eyes. She pulled her bare legs up, wrapping her arms around them.

She had no idea what just had happened, she'd dreamed of Teddy kissing her for ages, and it had been even better then she'd imagined it. And now, now she practically felt worse then she ever had. She'd never thought she could feel so hurt by getting exactly what she wanted.

And then being called a mistake, of course.

Victoire banged her head against the wall, anger flaring up inside her. How stupid of her, she'd known all along that Teddy was unavailable. She could have _anyone_ except him. Maybe he thought it was wrong? They weren't family, but Teddy was considered a part of the family. Maybe he saw her like a cousin, or even a little sister.

"Victoire?" A voice rung through the corridor, and Victoire startled. A pair of high heels clattered against the stone floor, and she found herself glancing up into Priscill's face. The girl was looking amazing in a black dress almost the same colour as her hair.

"What are you doing on the floor? Are you _crying_?" Priscill wrinkled her nose in distaste, and Victoire quickly wiped her eyes.

"Of course not."

"Good." Priscill slid down next to her, kicking her heels off in the process. "These shoes have been killing me all night."

"Know the feeling."

"Really? It looks effortless for you." Priscill glanced at Victoire's killer heel shoes-

"I've been learning since I was twelve practically."

"Oh, fourteen for me."

"You'd think it'd get easier with time don't you?" Victoire said, and she knew that the other girl knew she wasn't talking about shoes anymore. Priscill nodded beside her.

"Yep, but it never does."

"What are you doing here exactly? Don't you have a date?" Victoire had gathered herself enough to realise that a girl like Priscill didn't just leave a party without a reason.

"Oh he left, can't find him."

"That doesn't sound like a very nice guy."

"He isn't, it's Gabriel Lestrange."

"_What?" _Victoire's voice rose, and Priscill narrowed her eyes.

"Don't judge me, you went with Nott!"

"I'm not judging, I'm just…. Surprised. That's all", she lied in a strained voice. Were was Lestrange if Priscill was here with her?

"And shouldn't you be with Nott? Or is he the reason you're sitting here looking miserable?"

"What? Oh, right, yeah…" Victoire shrugged. "Look I'm just gonna leave, this wasn't a fun dance anyway."

"Couldn't agree more" Priscill rolled her eyes, and the two of them took their shoes in their hands and went barefoot through the castle. They bid each other goodbye when they passed outside the corridor towards the slytherins, and Victoire ran the last way up towards the Ravenclaw tower.

She crashed into the common room with tears blurring her vision. The dance was still going on and the younger kids had already gone to bed, the room was empty. At least that's what she first thought.

"You've been lying to me." The sly voice rung through the room, her veins iced up when she slowly turned around, afraid to confirm with her eyes what she already knew.

"How did you get in here?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper. Lestrange was leaning against the fireplace, her tattered copy of Pride and Prejudice in his hand.

"You only have to answer a riddle, I'm quite good with those." He said. She swallowed when he flipped another page in her book, slowly moving towards her. She didn't move or speak until he'd reached her in the middle of the room. He held the book out towards her.

"This yours?"

"No" She knew she'd never put her name on it, and she didn't like him knowing anything about her. Especially not her favourite book.

"There you go again with the lying dear, I'm telling you it's not good for a pretty girl like you." He smiled, but it never reached his eyes. "I know it's yours, I've seen you read it."

"Oh right, I guess I forgot" she let out a nervous laugh, accepting the book. She'd understood the meaning behind his words, he was watching her. "Shouldn't you get back to your date? I know Priscill isn't the kind of girl who just waits around for a guy." She said, trying to get herself on top of the conversation.

"I asked Elijah to keep an eye on her, since _his_ date left him." Lestrange's eyebrow rose, dark eyes drilling into her.

"I was starting to feel a bit sick and had to leave, would you tell him that for me please?" She said, taking a step to pass Lestrange, but he caught her arm in a harsh grip. Memories of him pressing her up the wall that forsaken night came rushing back, and she tried to twist away. His fingers simply tightened, pulling her harshly against him.

"I know you think you have everyone fooled, but I see right through you." He wheezed, Victoire blinked.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She sounded pathetic even to herself.

"Then let me refresh your memory" Lestrange said, pulling her even closer, pressing his lips against her neck. Victoire gasped in fear, her hands against his chest, trying to push him away.

"When Lupin did this I don't remember you reacting quite like this." His lips left her neck, smiling humourlessly towards her.

"I-" She blinked, how did he know? Had someone seen them? Had Priscill told him?

"So now you're speechless huh? No more lies now that you know you're screwed?"

"Fuck off" Victoire said through gritted teeth. Lestrange's nostrils flared, with one harsh motion he'd pushed her to the floor. Victoire's elbows caught the fall, and she scrambled away quickly. She was just about to tell him to leave Teddy out of this when someone dashed between them.

"Leave her alone!" He bellowed, and Lestrange shrugged back in surprise. Anthony glared at him, and Victoire stared at Anthony. Oh merlin what was he doing?

"Are you okay Victoire?"

"I'm fine Anthony, you should leave." She pushed herself up, catching a glimpse of the look on Lestrange's face. He definitely wasn't happy.

"Hell no, _he's_ the one leaving." Anthony gave Lestrange a deadly glare, "And you're never coming near her again."

"Or what? You're going to stop me prettyboy?" Lestrange grinned, crossing his arm and not backing one step.

"I will if I have too." Anthony said darkly, and Lestrange smiled. He slowly leaned forward, his voice just loud enough for Victoire to catch.

"Are you really sure she's worth it?"

"_Leave." _Anthony repeated, Lestrange shrugged, moving towards the door.

"I'll see you around prettyboy", he called, just before the door fell close around him. Victoire wanted to kick something, but instead she threw her book across the room.

"You idiot!" She exclaimed, "Why did you have to burst in here and ruin everything?" Everything depended on how she handled this right now, Anthony had come at the worst possible timing, and right now her real feelings and what she had to do matched up quite good.

"What? He was threatening you! He'd pushed you to the floor! I _saved_ you!" Anthony bellowed as she whooshed past him to pick her book up again.

"I _tripped _you dumbass, he was just about to help me get up!"

"I know that's not what happened Vicky! And weren't you at the dance with Nott anyway? What were you doing with Lestrange?"

"I don't see how that is any of your business." Victoire said through pursed lips. If he had to think she was leading on several guys simultaneously, so be it. She'd done it before anyway.

"Victoire what is going on with you? I'm worried-" Anthony moved towards her, and she realized his fondness of her had been even stronger then she'd first thought. She'd have to pick it up.

"I don't recall that being any of your business since I dumped you."

"Victoire-" Anthony had stopped, and she knew her words had hit in the right place.

"Just leave me alone Anthony, we had a fling, that's all, get over it."

She left him standing crestfallen, and ran up to her dorm. Once she threw the door closed the tears burst out for the second time. She leaned against the door, sliding down to the floor with her head in her hands. Hulking she realized what a mess she was in.

She could only hope that Anthony was hurt enough to never want to look or speak with her ever again. He'd be safe that way. It physically hurt her to say those things to him, because he was a nice guy, she knew that, and she'd never wanted him to be in any kind of danger. She hadn't actually understood that he'd fallen so hard for her.

And Teddy, she couldn't do that to him. She wasn't even in any position to, he'd been the one who did it to her! If only Lestrange hadn't found out, that way she could just forget about it. Or pretend to forget, she'd never forget the way her skin prickled under his touch.

Victoire wiper her face with her sleeve, if her world had been crooked before, it had turned completely upside down tonight.

She heard voices coming up the stairs, quickly she stripped out of the dress, leaving it in a wrinkly pile on the floor. It had brought nothing good. Then she fled into the shower just before her roomates came in through the door, chattering happily. Victoire leaned against the wall, letting the hot water stream down her head and shoulders, whisking away Lestrange's touch, but also taking Teddy's with it.

* * *

Teddy drove his hand into the wall, the stone easily breaking through his skin. A small strain of blood sipped from his knuckles and stained the end of his white shirt. He didn't even feel the pain, and he knew it would heal in no time anyway. He knew what he must look like right now, eyes completely black, stripped of every kind of human emotion and sense he'd ever had.

He drew a hand through his hair, trying to gather his thoughts as he finally threw the doors open and bounded out into the cold night air. The coldness spread through his lungs as he took a deep breath, but it did nothing to clear his head. There was no way he was ever going to be able to erase those pictures from his memory. Victoire's warm lips against his own, her skin under his hands and the small moans that had escaped her lips.

Teddy fell into a run, pulling his tuxedo off and leaving it on the ground, he knew Andromeda would kill him, but he didn't care. The only thing he wanted to do was trying to push Victoire out of his mind, he had to.

He cursed himself, why hadn't he'd been able to control himself? Because it was Nott and Lestrange? He'd seen her with Corner, and he hadn't wanted to rip that guys throat out.

Well that was a lie, every time he looked at Corner he wanted to punch his face in. But he knew that was the animal within him talking, and there was no way he'd ever do that. But Nott and Lestrange, those weren't good guys. Especially not Lestrange, Teddy's senses tingled whenever Lestrange was near. The guy was dangerous, and seeing Victoire in his arms something snapped within him. It was just barely he'd been able to control himself and civilly break them up instead of throwing a punch right there in the middle of the floor.

Once again Victoire's sparkling eyes flashed past his mind, her lips curling upward into a coy smile. The kind of look that could make every guy fall to her feet if she wanted him to. Why did it have to be _her_. Why? It could have been any other girl in school but he had to be drawn to her. She'd been his best friend, practically family.

Now there was no way he'd ever be able to deny his feelings for her. Not after tonight, not after forcing her up against a wall and kissing her hardly. She'd never be able to forgive him, she wouldn't want to talk to him, not even look at him.

Maybe that was for the best? Maybe some distant could make the fire burning within him cool off, maybe someday he could be near her without wanting nothing else then to make her his. Maybe he could actually be happy to see her with a guy like Corner?

Teddy knew perfectly well that day would come. He'd never be able to go back and look at Victoire the way he had before. Before he first shifted.

Andromeda and Harry were the only ones who knew what had happened during the summer. That night when Teddy came home in the twilight with ripped clothes and animal eyes. Andromeda called Harry, and Teddy had to accept his destiny.

He was a werewolf, and he could eat wolfsbane to stop it, but it would still never change what he was. He'd hated it, he was already a metamorphmagus, did he have to be a werewolf too? He was like a freak of nature.

But he hadn't realized just how hard this would be on him until he saw Victoire for the first time after the shift. She was grinning towards him in a strapless dress and hair in a long braid. Something had snapped inside him, and he knew he was in deep trouble.

He'd asked Harry about it, not saying it was Victoire of course, he just said it was an old friend of his he suddenly started feeling different about. Harry had said it was a werewolf thing, everything he'd felt before was heightened. But Teddy soon realized they weren't just heightened, they were unbearable.

He knew what Victoire did to guys, she could pull their hearts out and then pierce it with one of her high heels without even knowing it. Then she'd leave him hollow as she moved on. Teddy had used to laugh at these guys, but now he both understood them and hated them.

Victoire was his, but he couldn't do anything about it. And now she hated him.

Teddy glanced at the sky, it wasn't a full moon so he wouldn't turn. But he still had werewolf blood pumping through his veins, making him stronger than the average wizard as he bolted through the forest. In a few days he would start feeling sick as the full moon approached, he had to get it out of his system until them.

Victoire's eyes. He pushed them away. Her lips. No. Her arms around his neck. Definitely no. Her smell. Get your shit together Ted.

No matter how fast he ran he could never push the thoughts of her out of his mind.

**...**

The next day Teddy's mood was probably the worst in the history. His dormmates had noticed, and after the usual morning bantering they'd left him alone. He forced some breakfast down, knowing he'd only get even more edgy if he was hungry, and then headed of to his lessons.

The morning went past in a dreaded blur, he kept looking around to see if he saw Victoire, and every time he caught glimpse of a light blonde girl he jumped high. He knew he had to face her sometime, but he didn't want to se the awful disbelief in her eyes.

He actually managed to stay away from her, but not from Corner. He slipped up beside Teddy when he was crossing the yard after lunch, made a beeline and forced him to stop. Teddy's blood immediately started pumping, only knowing that Corner and Victoire had been that… intimate… He knitted his fingers into fits in his pockets.

"What do you want?"

"I want you to stay away from Victoire." Corner wheezed, and Teddy forgot to be mad in a second of shock.

"_What_?"

"You're too dangerous, if you care at all about her you have to stay as far away from her as possible before you hurt her."

"I'm dangerous?" Teddy exclaimed in disbelief, he knew very well he was, but Corner didn't know he was a werewolf and should probably be more concerned about Nott and Lestrange. "I don't know what you're talking about, she's with that Nott guy isn't she?"

"Yeah, and she should stay with him, at least he's better than a _werewolf_." Corner wheezed. Teddy's jaw dropped, but this time he wasn't able to control himself. His hand shot out, catching the other boy's collar tightly.

"Excuse me?"

"I know you're a werewolf Lupin, you're a freak. Barely human."

"I'm going to give you _one_ chance to take that back." Teddy threatened as he pushed Corner away. He stumbled, but regained his balance. A few younger girls in their vicinity had paused, looking at them. Teddy barely noticed, he was starting to see red, and forgetting just _why_ he couldn't rip Corner's throat out.

"Look at yourself, you can't control it. You're a danger to everyone and especially Victoire. I want you to leave her alone", growled Corner, stepping up closer to Teddy, almost as tall as him.

"Are you sure you want to threaten a werewolf?" Teddy said through gritted teeth, beyond caring that he should probably deny the accusations and just walk away. But he was triggered now, and he couldn't just stand down.

"I'll take my chances, for Victoire. Now are we clear?"

"I don't think so, what are is going to stop me?" It wasn't Teddy speaking, it was his animal side. The side that was completely beyond reason and driven purely by instinct. Corner's face was set in stone, and Teddy was so surprised when he threw the first punch that he didn't even have time to duck.

It was a good one too, better then he'd expected from a Ravenclaw. It collided with his jaw, sending a wave of agony through it. The pain seemed to be the last drop, and his werewolf side took over completely.

* * *

Victoire pressed her books to her chest as she made her way through the corridor. She'd spent the morning trying to avoid practically everyone, well except Teddy, but he seemed to be avoiding her. She jumped in surprise when she heard someone yell her name.

"Victoire! Vicky! Vickyyyyyyyyy!" It was Rose, panting in the doorway towards the yard.

"_What_?" She yelled back towards her cousin. The other students in the hall looked between them interestedly.

"You've got to come. _Now_!"

"I'm busy", she said.

"Oh for Merlin's sake, Teddy and Anthony are fighting!"

"_What?" _Victoire was already moving, running towards her cousin. Rose caught her hand in the doorway, dragging her out. "What happened, why?"

"I don't know, I was just passing and then I heard shouts and went there and-" Rose swallowed, pointing towards a huddle. Victoire set off running, pushing through the crowd, ignoring the offended yelps from the people she hurt.

She didn't know what she'd been expecting when she reached them, but it wasn't two boys with bloody faces, one barely able to stand. Anthony was swaying, looking much worse than Teddy. Victoire was frozen for a second, she'd never seen him like that. The night before, when he'd pressed her up against the wall, she'd never been afraid, now, she was afraid of him.

"STOP!" She finally regained her voice, yelling as she bolted into the circle. Anthony's head had turned towards her just before she threw herself between him and Teddy.

Teddy wasn't able to stop himself in time, and she was thrown aside harshly. Pain shot through her arm as she landed strangely on the ground. She heard both Teddy and Anthony shouting her name, and she caught a glimpse of Teddy's face. The blackness had faded, and the shock was clear. Suddenly he was kneeling down beside her, Anthony forgotten.

"Vicky, are you okay? I am so sorry I- I didn't see you."

"Stay away from her you creep." Anthony had crawled up on her other side, trying to push Teddy away.

"What is going on here?" A stern voice rung through the crowd, and the students scattered quickly. Professor Longbottom looked at them with anger and disappointment. Rose, still beside them, started throwing herself into an explanation of what she'd seen, but he cut her off.

"Thank you Miss Weasley, but will take that after these three get some medical care."

"I'm fine", said Victoire, but she knew Anthony wasn't, he barely seemed able to stand beside her. Longbottom gave them a long hard glare, then gestured for them to follow him.

Anthony swayed, and Victoire instinctively wrapped her arm around him, keeping him upright. He coughed, trying to say something, she didn't quite catch it. Instead she glanced at Teddy. He was staring right back at her, arms hanging still by his sides. He'd had something like a cut above his right eye, and marks across his jaw. Victoire stared disbelievingly at him, urging an explanation. He turned away.

Victoire couldn't say anything with Longbottom walking just ahead of them, and with a bloody Anthony on her shoulder. He was still coughing, and Victoire distantly recognized a word in his blurry speech- he'd said something about a werewolf.

* * *

**AN: Finally some answers right? And a lot more problems, but the story would be very boring without them wouldn't it? This chapter took a while because I'm buried in schoolwork, but today I'm hungover, and I can't study when I'm hungover, so I decided to write instead. Heh. **

**Thanks to ThoughtsxStories, KerryWeasley and Julie London for reviewing, and of course for all the alerts!**


	5. Howling

_Mockingbird, can't you see? _

_Little girl's got a hold on me_

_Like glue_

_Baby, I'm howlin' for you_

**-The black Keys 'Howlin' For You'**

* * *

**Chapter 4: Howling**

* * *

"I said I'm fine!" Victoire exclaimed, hoping for the last time. Madam Pomfrey, the ancient school nurse, gave her an indignant glare but finally seemed to leave her alone. Victoire glanced over the her right, Teddy was sitting on the edge of the bed, head in his hands. He seemed fine, better shape then she'd remembered him to be. On her other side Anthony had been knocked out with some kind of sedative, absolutely in a worse shape than Teddy.

She cast a quick glance towards Longbottom, who was now talking to Pomfrey in the corner. Quickly she slid off her bed and scurried over towards Teddy. She barely had to touch his arm before he twisted away.

"You shouldn't come near me."

"I just wanted to see if you're okay." Victoire let her hands fall, trying not to let her hurt shine like a beacon.

"I'm great, now would you please move away?" He briefly looked up at her, and she saw that he really meant it. Her breath hitched.

"No I can't actually, I want to know why the hell you got into a _fistfight _of all things with Anthony?"

"It wouldn't have been as much fun with magic", said Teddy gravely. Victoire's jaw almost dropped, and she was too stunned to speak.

"He's _unconscious _because of you!"

"What can I say?" Teddy finally turned to her "He deserved it. But you didn't."

"I'm fine, you barely touched me Teddy."

"I'm gonna go-"

"Teddy!" Victoire wheezed, grabbing his arm. He kept looking at the door, but paused briefly. "You _owe_ me an explanation. For everything." She was tired of him always messing her life up and then running away as if nothing happened.

"I know you do, and believe me if I could tell you, I would." Teddy said to the floor, breaking free from her grip. Anger flared up inside Victoire.

"What happened to you Teddy? What happened to the sweet guy that used to be my best friend who'd never walk away from me or pick a fight with someone for no reason?"

"What makes you think _I _started it?" Teddy said through gritted teeth. "And I _did_ have a reason."

"Then what is it?" Victoire's voice rose, and she glanced over to Longbottom, he still had his back against them. Teddy's mouth went into a thin line, and his hair shifted from dark blue to greenish for a second.

"Look why don't you just leave me alone? You've got enough boys on your plate anyway."

Victoire was stunned, she'd never thought she'd hear those words from Teddy. Of course she knew she partly deserved them, but hearing them from him was a completely different thing.

"Well it didn't exactly seem like you minded when you kissed me at the dance!" She hissed, and Teddy's face grew slightly redder.

"We all make mistakes sometimes though don't we?"

If the boys-on-the-plate comment had hit hard, this one was the final blow. Any kind of retaliation was lost, and she stared back at him silently.

"Hey! You are not going anywhere Mr. Lupin!" Longbottom called, suddenly beside them again. "Don't think this isn't going to go unpunished, this is serious offence."

"I didn't start it." Teddy grumbled.

"I'm sure you were both to blame, but that's no excuse. Now follow me to my office" he started leading Teddy towards the door. "Oh would you please send after the Ravenclaw head when Mr. Corner feels better?" He called to Pomfrey, who nodded in response before Longbottom and Teddy disappeared out the door.

"You can leave if you want to" Pomfrey said timidly, a hand lightly on Victoire's shoulder. She shook her head.

"I'd like to stay until he wakes, if you don't mind?" She couldn't bare the thought of leaving Anthony alone after everything she'd put him through. And maybe he would give her some answers, since Teddy refused.

"Sure, I'll be right back there if you need anything." Pomfrey disappeared away, and Victoire lay down on the bed next to Anthony's. He'd already begun to heal and looked quite peaceful.

As the day wore on the sun begun to set, she drowsily slipped in and out of sleep, until she found him stirring. Scrambling off the bed she was at his side, catching his hand. It took him a few confused seconds to find her face, and she bit her lip.

"Victoire?" His voice was hoarse, she leaned against the bed, still clutching his hand.

"Yeah, I didn't want to leave you alone… I'll go if you want me too."

"You stayed, for me?" He started pushing himself up, and she released his hand.

"Of course", she said. The smile that broke out on his lips was heart wrenching and she immediately regretted it. "So how do you feel?"

"Like someone tried to punch me through the ground." Anthony stretched with a grimace, and she found herself making one too.

"That bad huh?"

"Yeah, but I think I got in a few good ones on him too. Considering the circumstances." Anthony's arm tensed above the cover, and Victoire sensed that she was close to getting some answers this time. Anthony was nowhere near as keen on keeping secrets as Teddy.

"Anthony… you have to tell me what's going on. Why the hell did you two start fighting?"

"You really don't know?" Anthony looked at her, like he was trying to figure something out. "So… that's not what the whole thing with Lestrange was about?"

"What? I told you that was nothing. What is it that I don't know?" She grew inpatient, she was so close to finally figuring it out and he was keeping it just out of reach.

"I figured you knew… and you were protecting him…." Anthony mumbled "This is so much worse, you're not even aware of the danger he's putting you in-"

"Anthony!" She caught his shoulder, staring him down to get his attention. He finally stopped rambling, a slight blush rising on his cheeks. Victoire confusedly looked down and realised that in her frustration she'd jumped up on the bed, and was now practically straddling him. She cleared her throat, about to swing back down. Anthony's cold hand caught hers and she decided to stay on the edge, her legs swaying in the air. He kept pressure on her hand.

"I know this is going to come as a shock to you, and you're going to be afraid. But I promise I won't let anything happen to you, and we're going to get this taken care of so you can be safe again."

"Anthony will you just spit it out!" Victoire exclaimed in frustration, she was done with the touchy-feely stuff. Anthony made a grimace and then took a deep breath, the pressure on her hand grew stronger.

"Victoire… Teddy is a- he's a…"

"What?" She urged.

"He's a werewolf Victoire."

"No…no… that can't be…" Victoire dropped Anthony's hand, sliding off the bed in shock. Teddy a werewolf? How? He couldn't have been bitten, was the gene genetic? No, she'd know if he had turn. He would have told her. He was her best friend.

_Was._

"I don't- I don't understand." She took a deep breath "Why would you think that?"

"The evidence is all there isn't it? He's got the gene from his father, he's violent and-"

"Anthony!" She screamed, and then took another shake breath. Anthony was narrowing his eyes, not looking happy.

"Why aren't you freaking out? He hurt you, ha can't control himself he's obviously dangerous. And you're asking where I got the idea?"

"Where _did_ you get the idea?" Victoire said through gritted teeth. Her mind was spinning out of control, putting together bits and pieces. It did all make sense, Teddy's strange behaviour, the unusual spontaneity and violence. But all that seemed to fade away, she was a Ravenclaw and her rationality had already kicked in. She knew how dangerous this information was, and how dangerous it was that Anthony knew. And who'd told Anthony.

"I put two and two together myself." He sounded defiant, and Victoire knew he was lying. She stepped close, all tenderness completely gone, Anthony had gone from the victim to someone who could possibly destroy Teddy.

"You need to tell me who told you about this, and you need to tell me _now_." She put everything she had behind those words, both threats and promises, hoping her veela powers would work to her advantages for once. Anthony's lips quivered, and he stared back at her.

"Gabriel Lestrange."

Victoire stepped back, her knees felt like they might give out from whitunder her. Everything but that. Anyone but him.

"Why- why did- you know Lestrange can't be trusted."

"I know that, I didn't believe him either first, it wasn't until I saw the signs I realised he was right. As much as I hate it."

"He's playing you Anthony, Lestrange only wants to create fights, he's trying to play you two against each other."

"I woudn't be in this if it wasn't for you Victoire, I know that, and now that I'm in I'm doing everything I can to protect you. And that means getting Teddy expelled and as far away from you as possible"

Victoire grabbed his still bloody shirt, he blinked in surprise as if he'd expected a different reaction. "You are not going to tell anyone about this. You hear me? Teddy is my friend, and he would never hurt anyone."

"He hurt me-"

"Seriously hurt! You were in a fight, it was mutual. He didn't attack you did he? Who started it?" She'd gone into offence, and Anthony was thrown off guard.

"I- I told him to stay away from you and then he just went nuts-"

"Who threw the first punch?"

"What? That doesn't have anything-"

"_Who threw the first punch_?" Victoire repeated, she knew she had to make him shut up, and she had a feeling she had to play this smoothly.

"I- I did." He blushed slightly, and she knew she'd hit a nerve.

"Who wouldn't hit back if you punched them Anthony? He's completely in control. Besides, I don't think it would look very good if you accused him of being a danger just because he's a werewolf. It's a lot more accepted these days, and you don't want people thinking you're a pureblood elitist do you?"

"No I don't…"

"So you're not going to say anything?" Victoire realized she was still gripping his collar, and instead let her hands slide down on his chest reassuringly. Trying to look like she was worried about _his_ reputation and not Teddy.

"Fine… just because you asked. But if he so much as comes near you again-"

"He would never hurt me, we're friends."

"But you'll stay away from him?" Anthony glanced up at her. Victoire started to draw away, shaking her head. "If you don't I'll tell McGonagall and-"

"Okay! Fine, I'll stay away from him!" She said urgently, "for you."

"For me." Anthony repeated, and she nodded reassuringly. Somewhere in the back of her mind she wondered how she'd gotten back into this position. She'd broken his heart, he should be out of her life. But here she was again, pretending to care about him more than she did.

"You should get some sleep." She was backing towards the door, suddenly she had to get out.

"I'll see you later?" Anthony asked worriedly, but she only managed a quick nod before she turned and practically ran out of the infirmary.

She made it about half a corridor, then she slipped into a broom closet. She'd hid in that same broom closet before, making out with a guy. Now she leaned against the door, heart hammering against her chest like the wings of a hummingbird. It took her several minutes to breath normal and gather her thoughts.

Teddy a werewolf. It made sense. It made terrible sense, so why hadn't she seen it? And why hadn't he told her?

But all those questions where overshadowed by the immediate threat that Lestrange knew about this, also Anthony, but that was a more manageable situation. She could control Anthony, for now he would keep quiet. But she couldn't control Lestrange, or fool him for that matter.

One step at a time, she thought to herself. She had to speak to Teddy, he had to stop avoiding her now, she had to tell him to be careful. And she had several more questions, but there were just too many.

"Find Teddy", she mumbled as she pushed out of the broom closet, she must have looked awfully dishevelled because a young girl and her friend stared at her in surprise. Or maybe they were just surprised she came out of there _alone_.

Stalking down the corridor she noticed it was dinnertime, which meant she would probably find Teddy in the great hall. No matter how angry he was he would never turn down a meal.

She saw him the moment she burst into the great hall, at the end of the Gryffindor table with his friends. He wasn't talking to them, just staring down onto his plate. Victoire stalked right over there, and didn't realize her mistake until it was already too late.

She'd practically reached Teddy, and he had glanced up to see her. That's when she noticed Lestrange by the slytherin table, he was smiling knowingly. Priscilla was by his side, giving her a wondering look. Victoire knew this was bad, but she'd already blown it, Lestrange knew she was heading towards Teddy. There was no point in turning back now.

She paused, behind one of his friends, they all turned around, Teddy had forgotten about his food. "Can I have a word with you?"

"Sure, what's up?" His voice was strained, but it was obvious he was trying to sound breezy.

"In private?" She urged through gritted teeth. Teddy's jaw went into a straight line but he nodded tensely.

"Fine."

He got up, told his friends he'd meet them later and then reluctantly followed her down the other aisle, parallel to hers. Their paths crossed by the door, and he paused, he looked like he would turn around and run. Victoire didn't give him the chance, she kept walking, and like every other boy, he followed.

The hallway outside was empty, and she rounded on him by one of the arched windows. She was momentarily thrown off by the dark gleam in his eyes, as black as the sky outside.

Teddy sighed, "What do you want? I thought I made it pretty clear that I didn't want to-"

"I know", she cut him off.

"Know what?"

"That you're a werewolf." There. She'd said it, now there was no turning back. Teddy's mouth opened and then closed, she could see he was trying to gather himself. And she saw straight through the fake laugh. It was true.

"What? Why would you think that? Because my dad was? There is no proof that the gene can be passed on genetically."

"You're the proof. I know you're lying, what I don't understand is why you wouldn't tell me. Do you think I wouldn't want to be your friend? I don't care if you're a werewolf or not, you'll always be my best friend."

Teddy stared at her in silence, she grew uncertain. She'd put herself out there and he wasn't responding the way she'd thought.

"Teddy?" She prompted silently. He was staring out the window, even thought it was dark. It hit her that he could probably see in the dark. She took a deep breath. "But maybe I was just mistaken, maybe you never thought of me as-"

"Vicky stop." He still wasn't looking at her, he'd knitted his hands into fists. She prepared for the worst. "The reason…. The reason I didn't tell you is not because I don't think of you as a friend."

"Then why?"

"Look, I can't talk about this with you. Not with anyone, I've only told Andromeda and Harry. I have no idea how Corner found out, but I'm guessing he's the one who told you?" He'd unconsciously taken a step towards her, she nodded. Teddy let out something that resembled a growl.

"I knew I shouldn't have left you with him. I should have made him keep his mouth shut-"

"Teddy!" Victoire exclaimed, petrified. She'd caught his collar, and both of them were momentarily distracted by the closeness. But she held on, she needed to feel something solid. "This is not you Teddy, you're not violent."

"I am now, I am since my first transformation this summer. And that is exactly why you should stay away from me. Corner had no right to tell you, but he is right about that." He laced his fingers around her wrist, taking her hands off him.

"I don't believe that. Werewolves aren't dangerous except for the full moon, and there's wolfsbane for that."

"It's more complicated then that Vicky." Teddy looked unhappy, pulling back from her again. She caught onto his hands, she wouldn't allow it.

"Tell me, you have to tell me. I am going crazy because you're acting like this. First you stop talking to me, then you kiss me, then you tell me to stay away from you and now you say its _complicated_? I deserve to know."

Teddy looked down at her, the darkness in his eyes had faded. It was like the anger had drained out of him, when he spoke it was in defeat. "It's because of you, okay? It's because I can't be near you. I can't be near you without thinking these things, things I shouldn't be thinking. And even when I'm nowhere near you you're always on my mind. You're constantly on my mind and it's driving me insane!"

Victoire was frozen, half of her wanted to laugh because he was thinking of her, the other half wanted to cry because apparently it was the worst thing that had happened since Voldemort.

"I-", she stammered, but he continued.

"And I mean, it's not like you're making this any easier on me. I mean it's _you_, you're Victoire Weasley. It could have been anyone but it had to be you. And now I have to see you with all these guys, and there are many! And I can't take it, I wanted to rip Corner's head off in the library, I wanted punch Nott in the face at the dance and then I practically attacked you because I couldn't control myself and then Corner was all in my face and I- I just…" He trailed off.

"I…ah….uh…" Victoire was too stunned form any kind of coherent words. Teddy was panting, but the stream of words seemed to have stopped. Realisation seemed to dawn on him, and they both stared at each other. Victoire knew somewhere in the back of her brain that she had more important things to discuss, like Lestrange. But all she could say was,

"You're thinking about me?"

"That's the only thing you have to say?" He exclaimed in disbelief. "You should run away from me, right now. Why the hell aren't you running?"

"You…" Victoire was still processing "You think you _attacked_ me when you kissed me?"

"It wasn't like I gave you a choice." Teddy's voice was dark again, "but I promise I will control myself better in the future. I can handle this _thing_-"

"This _thing_?" She echoed.

"I didn't plan on this Vicky, we were friends, good friends. I know you don't see me that way and I just want you to know I can keep it under control."

"Keep _what_ under control?" Her voice was barely above a whisper, she was totally lost. She didn't know if she was angry or happy or sad or whatever was happening here.

"This uncontrollable need for you," Teddy glanced at her, almost with distaste. As if seeing her made him feel ill. "When I first saw you after my transformation, it was like… like everything had changed. I couldn't see you as my best friend or a part of my family. I just knew I wanted you. And I thought I could handle it, I did, but it became worse and worse, especially during the full moon."

"The full moon is tomorrow." Victoire said silently, and Teddy nodded gravely.

"I've been particularly edgy, probably why I'm being a complete ass and telling you everything right now."

"You- you _want_ me?" Victoire felt something she hadn't felt in a long time, a small ray of hope. Teddy glanced back at her tiredly.

"Who doesn't?"

"Teddy… " she didn't know how to get the words out. "When you kissed me, I kissed you back! Don't you remember? I mean… that was… that was good." She blushed slightly, and Teddy blinked.

"What? I thought… I thought…"

"Are completely daft? I've bugged you about this endlessly and you've been the one pushing me away. If you'd just _told_ me…"

"Vicky I'm still dangerous, especially around you… I don't know if I- if I could control myself." He bit his teeth together, jaw tensing "I can barely stand here talking to you."

"Well I wouldn't mind-" Victoire took a step closer, dangerously close, Teddy took a ragged breath, his hand lightly brushing her jaw. Her heart was speeding, she couldn't believe this was happening it was just-

"Well isn't this lovely", said a familiar, blood-freezing voice.

-too good to be true. Victoire sprang away from Teddy like she'd been stung. She'd completely forgotten about Lestrange and the dangerous charade she was playing. Teddy's rambling and declaration had made her forget about it, putting them both in danger.

Lestrange grinned at them, his arms crossed above his chest. Teddy moved as if to block her, but Victoire edged away. Officially she was supposed o be with Elijah, and she wanted to keep that up as long as possible. She wanted to keep Teddy out of this.

"What do you want Lestrange?" Teddy growled coldly.

"Well I was just a bit interested in what was happening, since Victoire here is supposed to be dating a close friend of mine… I'd just hate to see him get hurt." He gave her a meaningful look, and she knew Elijah wasn't the only one who would get hurt.

"I assure you that you have nothing to worry about." She said with a smile, Lestrange still looking like he was enjoying this immensely.

"Actually, you do." Teddy announced, and she yanked his arm, trying to make him shut up. He barely seemed to notice, he and Lestrange were glaring at each other. "I don't think Victoire wants to see your friend anymore, would you be a dear and tell him for her? And while you're at it, stay away yourself."

"Are you sure you want to do this Lupin?" Lestrange said smoothly "Are you sure you want to pick a fight with me? Knocking out pretty boy Corner is one thing…"

"I'll take my chances."

"_Teddy_!" Victoire was horrified to her very core, Teddy had no idea what he was getting himself into. She practically digger her nails into his arm to make him shut up. Lestrange looked between them humorously, then locked eyes with her.

"I'll tell Elijah it's to bad you're not interested in him anymore. Too bad."

"Walk away Lestrange." Teddy threatened, Lestrange simply smiled amiably, his eyes still on Victoire.

"Too bad."

Then he turned around, walking towards the dungeons. Victoire had just lost the only protection she had against him.

"Victoire?" Teddy asked gently, and she blinked. Crap.

"Teddy, you have to stay away from Lestrange, he is dangerous."

Teddy snorted, "I can handle him, werewolf you know."

"That's exactly why," she turned to him "He knows you're a werewolf, _he_ told Anthony!"

"What? How could he know?" Teddy growled, glaring daggers in the direction Lestrange had gone. She could feel him tensing, and caught his arm in a tight grip. He froze.

"The fullmoon is tomorrow, you shouldn't be this close to me."

"Sorry," she let her hands fall, whatever had been about the happen before Lestrange came around, wasn't happening. The moment was gone, Teddy had come to his senses and apparently that meant he wasn't even touching her.

"No I'm sorry, none of this is your fault. I am going to get better at this, and once this full moon is over it's going to be easier."

"Okay," she nodded, trying to keep a straight face. She didn't want him to see how disappointed she was. She knew he was right, especially since she had secrets of her own that she didn't want him dragged into. But _he_ didn't know, and that's what hurt.

"Promise me you'll stay safe for a few days? And then we'll try to figure this out?" Teddy begged, and she nodded again.

"Sure, and you better try to keep it together, no more fistfights alright?"

"Alright," he gave her something resembling a grin. But it was only a shadow of his old smile.

* * *

**AN: **

**Okay, this was actually a tuff chapter, a lot of things thrown into the light and a lot of reactions from the characters. Victoire's life is suddenly even more complicated, and winter is getting closer. Also Teddy seems to have some more unresolved issues than just being a werewolf? Hm…**

**Thanks to **_**When the clock strikes twelve **_**- Always the loyal reviewer, glad you followed me to this story^^ **_**ThoughtsxStories**_**, and Guest for reviewing!**


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